


Star Wars: Novice of Peace

by RoninReverie



Series: Jacen Syndulla Stories [5]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Adventure, Book: Star Wars: Aftermath Trilogy, Dyslexia, Espionage, Fighting, Flying, Star Wars References, Teenage Rebellion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-05-01 23:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14531235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoninReverie/pseuds/RoninReverie
Summary: Jacen is a gifted pilot, the son of a general, and a natural when it comes to getting himself into trouble. When he receives an important mission to scout escape routes on the planet, Lannik, the young man quickly finds himself in over his head as his ship takes damage, his mission gets compromised, and he is even brought aboard a First Order vessel for interrogation. Now, Jacen only wants to get back home, but more than one roadblock is going to stand in the way before he finally achieves his goals.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For small inside references, also try reading ["Uncle Hondo"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14482521) and ["Jacen and Clank"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14393898).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on May 4, 2018.

#  **Introduction:**

The war between the EMPIRE and the REBELLION has come to a decisive end.  
For years after, the galaxy finally appeared to be transitioning back into a long-forgotten time of peace;  
however, unorganized crime continues to spread, and the aftermath of the EMPIRE has not fully disappeared.

The FIRST ORDER continues to gain momentum as GRAND ADMIRAL RAE SLOANE paves way for the future,  
rewriting the faults committed by the EMPIRE that ultimately led to their undoing.  
She hopes that with her help, the FIRST ORDER will not fall down a similar path to destruction.

Meanwhile, the MILITARY DISARMAMENT ACT severely cut NEW REPUBLIC forces down to a fraction of what it once was.  
Few Civil War veterans such as GENERAL HERA SYNDULLA remain to train the rising pilots  
should the COLD WAR between the NEW REPUBLIC and the FIRST ORDER escalate into an entirely new battle.

* * *

 

#  **Chapter One:**

## Planet: Denon  
_(Current location of the New Republic Fleet)_

 

“How are things there, General?” Leia asked, her tone revealing that she wasn’t expecting much of an answer from her old friend.

Hera gave a half hand shrug to the hologram, but smiled afterwards with a shake of her head. 

“Slow and steady, Senator,” she replied. “Has the senate made any further decisions on my proposal?”

“What do you think?” 

Leia’s voice was tired, in fact, her whole face seemed past the point of exhaustion and then some. 

Hera stared at the projection of the once youthful princess and noticed just how beaten she was looking nowadays. Even through the blue mask of the holo, the stress still showed in her eyes. Leia was only in her thirties, but the pressure of the incorrigible Senate weighing down on her, as well as the stress caused by sending Ben away to train with Luke— it was hard on her, no matter how many faces she put on to mask the emotions. 

Hera could only imagine what was going on in Leia’s head. If she would have had to make that choice with Jacen— no, she couldn’t even bear to imagine it. 

It wasn’t like the wrinkles beginning to form around her own eyes meant that she was one to talk about looking more aged, but still, Hera always thought that with the war over, people would look a lot happier than they generally did.

_They normally didn’t._

“I sent in that request weeks ago! What do they do all day—” Hera was whispering now. “Sit up there and argue about lunch?”

“That’s a pretty generous way to put it.” Senator Organa laughed. “Look, I’ll see what I can do, but without the rest of the Senate, there isn’t much use for the military right now.”

Hera shook her head. “These may be peaceful times, but people all over the galaxy still need our help, Leia.”

“Believe me Hera, I know, but what can we do? To go against the Senate would be traitorous— or at the very least it would be costly. Legally speaking, we would need sponsors and backers with enough credits to fund an entirely separate division of the military, one that we could control apart from the New Republic.” 

“I’ll bet the Senate loves tiptoeing around that kind of request!”

She snapped her finger and nodded in reply. 

It wasn’t like they were oblivious to what was going on in the rest of the galaxy, but the Senate was too busy with their in-fighting and petty political lives to actually work out some decent progress on an actual task. With Mon Mothma taking ill, rumors were spreading that she was going to step down soon and then, Leia knew, that was when all the proverbial  _“poodoo”_ would hit the fan. 

After a few moments, Leia looked back to Hera with an offer. 

“Look, I suppose I can send Han over there if you want. He probably knows a few people in the area. He could get something done there. Maybe rally up a few more safe zones?”

Hera’s head shook rapidly to the point her green patterned lekku swayed rhythmically alongside her shoulders. 

“No, Leia, there’s no need for that. He’s busy with the shipping company as is, just–” She sighed once. “See if you can nudge the Senate, and I’ll work out something on my end while we wait.”

“Knowing the Senate as it is now, that could be a very long wai—”

“General Syndulla!” a voice called, the doors sliding open quickly as two pilots walked in, each dragging her son inside by an arm as he walked slowly between them without so much as a struggle to escape. 

Their voices were equally agitated in a way that was all too familiar to Hera now.

“We need a word with you about your boy!” 

_And there it was._

Leia shot Hera an inquisitive smirk and bid her farewell. “May the Force be with you, General.”

“Oh, I don’t think even the Force is going to be enough to help that boy this time.”

She rubbed her temple, but smiled as she waved a goodbye to Leia and ceased their communication link. 

Turning to the two pilots, Hera first met eyes with Jacen whose guilty stare was perfectly matched with a nervous smile and a small chuckle. He shot her a tiny wave the best he could beneath the clinging fists of his captures and she broke eye contact, looking to the each pilot with reverence and an apologetic gleam in her eyes.

“What did he do this time?”

_Like she even had to ask._

“We caught him in an X-Wing again, General!” The taller pilot said, his grip still firmly locked on Jacen’s shoulder. “Our’s to be more precise.”

“That’s the third time this month,” the shorter one added. His red hair matching the hue of his skin as his nostrils flared with anger. “It’s delaying the whole squadron’s flight schedule, General. Can’t you get this kid under control?”

She shot him a sharp look, and the pilot shrunk a little, _much to Jacen’s silent amusement._

"Sorry General," he said with a guilty blush.

That was just it. Hera was the general after all, but sometimes people angry with Jacen forgot that part when they came up to complain. In fact, thanks to his mother’s high ranking, a lot of people didn’t complain at all, something that Jacen knew he took for granted. There was literally nothing else to do on this boring military base though, so he gladly took up the solo-profession and exploited it to the best of his abilities.

“I’ll talk to him,” Hera finally said after a long pause of deliberation. Her green gaze appearing calm to the untrained eye, but the way her chin was raised and the slight manner in which her lekku were pointed towards her back, alerted Jacen to her true agitation.

One of these days he was going to push his mother one step too far, and on that day, Jacen thought, his mother might finally kill him for real. Judging by her accent, this wasn’t even close to the extent of her rage, so Jacen knew he would live to see at least  _one_ more morning.

“Trevors, Higgs, thank you for bringing him to me.” She said, stressing her next words like pounding rivets into the metal coating of a starfighter. “It  _won’t_  be happening again.”

Jacen was often told while growing up how gentle and melodic other people thought his mother’s voice was, and how pilots in the heat of battle listened to her for reassurance and orders, but Jacen didn’t share the sentiment. In her tone he only ever heard his doom, and he could vouch that there was absolutely nothing soothing about it.

“If it happens again, we’re going to have to hold him under house arrest,” the small one, Higgs, threatened.

“Or kick him off base,” Trevors added, slightly more concerned in regards to angering his general further.

“I understand,” Hera replied simply. “You’re dismissed.”

They exchanged a look, but released Jacen, the small one giving the boy a sharp shove towards his mother before turning and heading back out the door, their hushed complaints trailing out behind them. The doors slid shut again and they were left alone in the solitude of the small war room.

Now that they were face to face, Jacen was looking down at his mother. He had grown taller than her a short time ago, but it didn’t help him to feel any more in control of his situation.

“Hey, so I can explai—” He didn’t even have time to finish his statement, as Hera pinched his ear and drug him over to an empty seat near the monitors, half throwing him into it as she placed her hands angrily atop her hips. 

She growled at him, as he got settled.

 _“Oww! Ouch! Jeez!”_ He rubbed at his now sore ear, but sat upright and prepared for a lecture. “Come on, I know they’re an easy target, but jeez that smarts!”

“Do you think this is funny?” She asked, her arms outstretched now. “Do you think sneaking around and stealing other people’s ships is something you can just get away with? You think you’re above punishment just because your mother’s a general? Just because you grew up here?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“Then what? What is it Jacen?!” She shouted. “What in that brain of yours keeps prompting you to act out against the other soldiers? I’ve covered for you the best that I can, but you are running dangerously low on chances young man! You’re running on fumes now!” 

He made a face.

“Do you want everyone on base to think you’re a troublemaker, is that it? ”

“No,” he said again.

“Jacen…” Hera sighed and placed her face in her hand. “You know you could have your own x-wing if you wanted, right?” She threw her arms out again in exasperation. “You’re a naturally gifted pilot and could have your own squadron someday if you would just— try!”

“I know…” 

“You obviously like flying,” she continued. “So why won’t you commit yourself to a position on the strike force? When you were a child, you always said you were going to—”

“But I’m not a child!” He interrupted, his voice loud as he tried desperately not to let it crack. “I don’t know if you noticed it, Mom, but I’m not a little kid anymore! Maybe my dreams have changed, have you ever thought of that?”

If she’d allowed herself to look hurt over Jacen’s outburst, she would never win this argument. Instead, Hera’s face was still as stone, and she leaned back on the table, arms folded as a brow rose with intrigue.

“Oh yeah?” She revealed an unhappy smile before gesturing to him with a light wave of her hand. “Well, let’s hear it. You don’t want to be a pilot anymore?”

“I don’t want to fly in those stuffy formations!” He said. “I want to do my own thing. Travel across the galaxy, like you did! I don’t like all these rules and regulations. I just want to be an independent pilot!”

“Whoa, hold on!” Hera’s eyes narrowed, but she sat up from the table. “Those formations are for the protection of the pilots, and I only traveled the galaxy because of my orders. _You know,_ the ones I followed under the Rebellion, which had all those regulations you’re so suddenly against?”

“Was the liberation of Lothal under your orders?” He retorted.

She froze, no longer able to hide the hurt in her eyes. 

Jacen instantly noticed and regretted what he’d said just as quickly. 

“Mom, I didn't mean—” He started to rise, but was blocked by her hand.

“Do you regret staying here with me?” she asked sternly.

“No!” He shot to his feet now. “Mom, no, don’t even think that!” His hands waved around spastically as though rapid motion and quick responses could retract his hurtful comment. He knew it couldn’t, but he still tried.

“Mom, I love you and I like going on missions with you and Chopper—” 

“But?”

“But… it’s just getting a little dull around here, you know?" He sighed. "There aren’t many missions the Senate allows us to do, but I know that there’s people out there that need my help— that need  _our_ help!” He pointed a finger in the direction of the outside world. “There’s spice cartels, slavers, and just some downright sleemos out there getting away with whatever they want while we’re stuck here like unused playthings for the Senate! Don’t tell me that you don’t feel the same way, Mom because I know you do!”

Hera rubbed her arm and let out a breath.

“I know.”

“So why are we still here?” He asked. “When I was a kid, you and I flew all over the place helping people face to face! I miss that! What happened to doing that?”

“The New Republic offered me a position, and I needed to think about what was best for you.”

“Well, we can go now, can’t we?” He motioned. “I don’t need you to take care of me anymore, I’m not a child!”

“You’re _my_ child,” she said, a chuckle almost slipping out as she smiled at him and ran a hand through his dark green hair.

He closed his eyes so she wouldn’t see him roll them, then bowed his head in defeat.

“I know…”

“Will that make you happy?” She interrupted, her head shaking softly as she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes and lowered the hand to caress his face with her thumb.

“Wh—what?”

“Will going out on field missions, away from the base, away from the army, and all of this—will that make you happy?”

“Like—like with a crew? And a larger shuttle?”

Hera nodded.

Jacen blinked an abnormal amount before breaking out of her hands and sitting back into the chair.

“I don’t really know?” He finally replied. “It sure sounds like you’re not planning on tagging along, _are you?”_

“I have a responsibility to these troops,” she said. “You know that. They need me, but it’s like you said—” she took in a breath, but smiled. “You don’t anymore.”

“Aw, Mom…” He waved. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay, Jacen. I know what you meant. But, it’s all the same. I’m not about to force you to stay somewhere you’re not happy. I know what that feels like, and you know that I’ll always support your choices, no matter what.” Hera frowned and swallowed. “Even if it means you and I have to go down different paths.”

“I know…” He said, his voice more contrite than he thought it’d be. 

He remembered having this conversations multiple times as a boy. Whenever his mother had to leave him on the base to go on missions, or when she left him on whole other planets with friends and family, this was the speech he was given. 

When Luke Skywalker showed up to announce the opening of his new Jedi school, Hera had given him a choice to stay with her or to go with Luke. The choice was easy enough for Jacen. He was no Jedi, he was a pilot! The force was about as strong with him as it was for any other person on the base, and even if he tapped into that part of himself a little more, Jacen didn’t see the life of meditation and structure to be as exciting as that of his mother’s profession. He stood by that mentality even now, _no matter how dull the army was these days._

“I know you're growing up, son, and you have to realize that I will always try to keep a little bit of that baby boy alive in there, but you're right. I have to face the facts. You're a teenager now, and I just have to live with that." Hera’s voice shifted and she shot him a smug grin. "Though I _could_ live without you making a mess of this base every other week.”

This only made Jacen break eye contact with her, his fingers instinctually rubbing at the sides of his ear, a nervous habit that he found himself doing more often than he cared to admit.

Hera smiled at him, turning her back as she walked over to the other side of the table and started pushing buttons on one of the control panels near the main display screen. Jacen wandered over to stand beside her just as she was finishing her search, and she pointed to the holoprojection that faded up a moment later.

“What’s all that?”

“One of my sources has been reporting a smuggling operation on Lannik, but so far, the Senate hasn’t done anything to help disperse the criminals and the raids are started to grow more violent.”

She glanced over at her son through the corner of her eye and noticed Jacen’s face struggling to read the words printed on screen. She continued reading aloud almost automatically so as to not reveal to him that she’d seen his frustration. She knew how much it bothered him, even if he didn’t let it show.

“Lannik is rich in unmined minerals and natural resources valuable to traders,” she said. “It was untouched during the Civil War and even during the Clone Wars, probably due to its close relationship with Hutt Space and the aggressive terrorist group, Red Iaro. Those were old ties and many are completely gone these days. Lately, the people of Lannik have been having all kinds of trouble due to outside parties, the biggest one being pirates.”

“Pirates like Uncle Hondo?”

“Please don’t call him that.” Hera grabbed the nape of her nose, regretting ever letting Jacen meet Hondo in the first place. She let out a breath. “But, let’s just say these pirates aren’t as _“friendly”_ as Hondo. The Lannik people are a combative sort, and fighting back has started causing casualties for both parties, plus the pirate syndicates don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. ”

Jacen’s face brightened.

“And you want me to go resolve some peace on an epic solo mission?”

“Nice try!” She said with a smirk.

He shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”

“No, Jacen, I want you and Clank to go out and scout their travel routes so the New Republic will know where to go when we get the greenlight to finally ship out and stop them. I’m just waiting on the Senate to accept my proposal and then we can legally intervene. It's not much, but it will be good practice for you when you're flying solo.”

“But Mom—” he started.

She held up a hand.

“And before you actually do get to fly solo, you're going to be shadowed. I’ll be sending one of my friends to watch over you.”

“Watch over me?” He scoffed. “Why do you think someone has to come babysit me?”

“Jacen Syndulla, I know you, and I know where you get that troublemaking streak from! So, I’m sending Dek out with you to make sure you don’t rush off into danger and do something reckless—” She tapped her fingers along her arm and shot him a look. “Again!”

“Oh, not Dek!” He complained. “Why Mom? Why Dek?”

“Because Dek is one of the few officers left on this base who likes you and I know you won’t be able to give him the slip.” She hummed to herself and shut off the panel, retracting the intel drive from the dataport only to offer it over to her son. “Plus,” she added. “This is punishment for swiping the X-Wings without permission.”

“The guys in the hangar just left them open!” He protested. “I was teaching them a lesson!”

“Excuse me?” Hera’s brow rose to maximum height and Jacen clamped his lips together, snatching the drive from her hands.

“Nothing,” He grumbled, masking his voice a split second later with an impish tone of smug satisfaction before shoving the drive in his jacket pocket. “Thanks Mom!” 

He kissed her cheek and rushed off as Hera swatted at him, missing her mark as Jacen had long ago grown accustomed to dodging her strikes all his life. With that, she let him run off, but stopped him in the doorway with a quick call of his name. He froze near the end of the hall, and turned back to face her, one boot already impatiently waiting outside the door.

“Now, Jacen!” She hollered. “You’d better be on your best behavior! I am not kidding this time! If I hear any more news of you acting up, then I’m going to send you to live with Zeb and Kallus on Lira San where I know you won’t get into any trouble!”

Jacen gulped.

Lira San was about as peaceful and boring as you could get—that and all the Lasat always tried to rub the green off his skin and steal pieces of his hair. 

Zeb and Kallus would want to take him sightseeing and drag him along to meet all of their neighbors— _again._ Then there were his cousins who would undoubtedly use him as a punching bag for their ritualistic Lasat wrestling/bonding games, and drag him into doing all sorts of crazy things, most of which he thought they made up on the spot just to get rid of him. 

Jacen recalled the last time he visited Lira San and shuddered. 

They threw him in a river once! A river attached to a waterfall! Luckily, Jacen was a strong enough swimmer to latch onto a beached tree limb sturdy enough to pull himself out, but it didn’t make the experience any less terrifying. No, Lira San was the last place he wanted to go, and knowing his mother, she really would ship him off if he didn’t start behaving a little more.

“No funny business—” He tugged at his collar and his voice returned to normal. “Understood, General!

He saluted her with two fingers and then made a quick dash for the  _Ghost_ without looking back. He couldn’t wait to tell Clank about the mission, even if it did mean dragging Dek along with them.

The Nautolan was a nice guy, one of the friendliest people on the whole base even, and to top it off, he was good in a fight, not only for his large size and brute strength, but for his trained skills in hand to hand combat. That skill was overshadowed whenever he opened his mouth to start talking though. Dek simply loved to dote on his wife and often talked about her to the point that it was annoying to anyone within earshot. Between that and his insightful attempts at giving out strange advice, his presence was just  _a little much_  to swallow sometimes. 

Jacen sighed in defeat, but accepted the mission he was given. He didn’t mean to make his mother’s life so difficult, but she was actually giving him a chance to do something adventurous for once. So, If that meant dealing with Dek Lorrok for a few days, then Jacen would gladly do it.

Meanwhile, Hera stared out the door after her son, musing at how much he was like herself—and how much more so he was like Kanan. She saw so much of him in their son, especially now that he's hit his teens. Jacen was a spitting image of the cocky troublemaker she’d found on Gorse all those years ago— strike the alcohol, the shameless flirtation, and the tortured past, or  _at least,_  Hera hoped she could strike those qualities out. She wasn’t sure what those kids did on their off days, but the less she knew about that the better.

She reached to her shoulder and held her hand there a moment, a reflex that she had started just after Kanan’s death. She wasn’t sure why, but it always comforted her somehow. It was as though she could almost feel Kanan reaching back, though, no amount of imagining ever truly greeted her with the warm touch of his hand in return. The empty air chilled her fingers, and she let out a breath, lowering her hand a moment later.

“I’d better let Dek know about the mission I’ve volunteered him for,” Hera told herself. “Now with him there won’t be any problems, but I’m more worried about what his wife is going to say.” 

Dek and his wife were expecting their first child soon, not that the baby hindered Rol’juh from working on the X-Wings. Dek actually requested leave from combat training in order to make sure she didn’t overdo it. Hera thought that it must have been a Twi’lek thing to keep on working even through the last few terms of pregnancy. She was a lot like that with Jacen, and she could remember her own mother being a similar way with her brother.

Hera grew a momentary look of remembrance before sighing and reaching for a spare datapad, muttering under her breath as she made her way towards the mechanics’ hangar. 

“The things I do for that boy…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on May 16, 2018

#  **Chapter Two:**

## Aboard a First Order Light Cruiser, _the Steadfast:_

 

“Captain Sloane,” one of the techs announced from below the bridge. “We’re being hailed by the Grand Admiral.”

“I’ll take the call on the bridge,” she replied, straightening her back as she looked to the holo projector with a poise and confidence that was beyond her years.

With that, the entire hull silenced, the only remaining sound being the buzzing connection made by the holoprojector at the center of the controls. As soon as she appeared, an eerie presence of command filled the air and each officer on deck was suddenly afraid to move for fear they might somehow do it wrong.

Grand Admiral Rae Sloane stood, her arms placed uniformly behind her back, her clothing a crisp white, pristine and adorned in medals to compensate her utterly impressive list of accomplishments, the two black stripes with gold piping around her cuffs, proving her more recent work and status within the First Order. The uniform complimented her dark skin and hair, even highlighting the long streak of white that now curled through the center of her head.

The captain recognized these features well, and not simply through her high ranking and constant contact with the Grand Admiral, but because she also had that same dark skin, identically rounded nose, full lips, and thick curly black hair that she too kept tied neatly behind her and out of her face. She stood at attention in her impeccably fine junior officer's uniform, and greeted the large blue-tinted hologram with a slight bow of her head.

“Grand Admiral Sloane... to what do we owe the honor?”

“At ease Captain,” she said, her body motionless as she stared down at the young woman with a soft seriousness in her narrowed brown eyes. “This is merely a personal conference. I wanted to check in on you and see how commanding the Steadfast is complimenting your training.”

“Everything is up to code and operating at full function,” Captain Ardyn Sloane explained. “We have maintained our course to Lannik and will be arriving to retrieve supplies for the First Order at 0800. We have not run into a single New Republic convoy, but are emitting the frequency of a freighter vessel regardless.”

“Very good.” Sloane almost looked as though she were about to smile. _She didn’t,_ but Ardyn still appreciated the thought. “I would expect nothing less from my own flesh and  blood.”

“Ma’am!” Ardyn nodded and tensed her shoulders.

Rae was not one to express their relationship so openly, so the comment took her aback. If the other crew members weren't currently holding their breath to keep hidden from the Grand Admiral's vigilant eye, then Ardyn was sure they would have been as equally shocked as she was.

It wasn’t very long ago that they’d met for the first time and Rae decided to take her under her wing. She was over thirty years older than Ardyn was, but growing up, she was told stories about her famed aunt from her grandparents. Despite Rae running away and joining the Empire at such a young age, her parents always remained immensely proud of their daughter, and Ardyn grew up idolizing her for that.

They both died very recently, her grandmother first due to poor heart health, and Ardyn's grandfather following in her footsteps only two years later. It was just a few months ago, though it seemed like a lifetime had passed for Ardyn since then. They both lived long and happy lives with little regrets aside losing a daughter to her own dreams and aspirations, and losing a son to his own lousy life choices.

 _She didn't like to think about her father._ In fact, Rae was unaware she even had a younger brother, much less a dead one until Ardyn told her about him. He abandoned Ardyn with her grandparents the very first chance he got, and she had no idea who her mother was, but understood that whoever she was, she wanted nothing to do with her daughter, nor the man who fathered her. Ardyn didn't care one bit about either of them and felt absolutely nothing at all when she learned that he had died in some back alley cantina due to alcohol poisoning. The only remorse she felt at all was for her grandparents who mourned their son like any loving parents would, even when the sleemo didn't deserve it.

She loved her grandparents immensely and they loved her like their own daughter up until the moments they passed away. She missed them and thought about them often, but she wasn't about to sit around and mourn them forever. They left her plenty of credits to take care of herself until she was old enough for a stable job, but the only thing to do on Ganthel was to work in the shipyards or take up a life in farming.

_No, Ardyn had different plans._

Alone, she followed in her legendary aunt’s footsteps, running away from the only world she'd ever known, and setting out to locate her legendary Aunt Rae who was rumored to be regrouping out in the Unknown Regions after the Battle of Jakku. It took months of tracking down leads, but she was successful in finding the Grand Admiral and setting up a meeting between them.

At first, Rae didn’t seem to acknowledge Ardyn, and even sounded angry at the fact that she was even able to track her down.

 _No doubt somebody got themselves fired after that._ Ardyn thought. 

But, Rae saw the potential in her young niece. She was cunning, good at numbers, and held the same blood inherited confidence that the Sloanes were known for; so, after coming to terms that Ardyn was the only family she had left, Rae eventually softened and took her presence more as an opportunity to train a successor than as an unwanted occurrence. Since Rae had been to busy with work to even consider having a child of her own, and after suffering through the traitorous death of Adea Rite, Ardyn fit the mold that Rae wanted to fill, and she worked her niece to the bone to ensure she succeeded.

 _She just had to succeed,_ Ardyn thought. All she ever wanted was her aunt’s approval, and if this was what it took to get it. She would make sure she was unmatched in every assignment that she was given, and this was her first _real_ assignment outside of Rae’s watchful eye. The Grand Admiral expressed confidence that controlling a small Light-Cruiser would boost Ardyn's prowess in command just as acting as captain had done for her on the Ultimatum all those years ago. It was her first real rise to power, and she hoped it would do the same for her promising little niece.

“Keep up the good work,” Rae continued. “I’ll be completing regular checks until your vessel is back within the Unknown Regions. I don’t need to remind you how imperative our silence is if the First Order is to grow successfully.”

“I understand.” She nodded again. “Thank you for this opportunity, Grand Admiral.”

Rae was handed a datapad and directed her attention down to it with a flick of her chin as she signed off. 

“Eclipse out.”

And just like that, her blue projected self was gone and Ardyn could hear every officer on the bridge let out a relieved breath of air.

“Alright,” she ordered, her voice projecting to every inch of the main hull. “Back to work. We’ve got to get in and out of this place as soon as possible. Stay alert and keep us hidden, is that understood?”

"Yes ma'am!" She heard a few stray voices reply, as the rest merely nodded and directed their attentions back to their screens.

Ardyn turned and started heading back towards her seat, speaking indirectly towards herself in a hushed tone as she muttered, “So long as the sorry excuse of an army doesn’t send any starfighters out this far, we should have no problems remaining as inconspicuous as possible.”

She sat and her voice projected loudly throughout the _Steadfast_.

“Full speed ahead!” 

  

 

* * *

 

## On the planet, Denon:

 

Jacen strolled onto the landing deck of the Ghost with a newfound sense of purpose in his steps. He climbed the ladder in the landing bay and made a direct path to his room in order to pack some of his things for the trip before bumping knee-first into Chopper.

 _“BUH WUH BER BUH?”_  The old orange astromech asked accusingly as Jacen tapped the top of his cylindrical headpiece and turned through the door into his cabin.

“No Chop,” he said, still smiling. “She didn’t ground me.”

Clank floated down from the top bunk and joined into the conversation as his circuits powered back on from sleep mode.

_“BEEP BER RRR BOOP BEEP?”_

Where Chopper’s audibly rusty circuits came off as grouchy and low, Clank’s managed to be higher in pitch and innocence. If Jacen had to pinpoint a sound to describe it, he would say the old Seeker Droid sounded almost inquisical and curious about whatever he was talking about.

 _It was only natural,_ Jacen thought. He'd rescued Clank from becoming scrap and had been working repairs on him ever since. When he found him, the droid was nothing more than a flying saucer, and now he was well equipped with an electroshock prod, holo reader, and intensive internal programming sequences. Aside from one brachial strut that just wouldn’t connect to the rest of his body, Clank was in perfect working order, and was immensely loyal to Jacen for giving him a second chance at activation. His curiosity stemmed from all those years serving the Empire where he was as emotionless and thoughtless as if he’d already been scrapped. All in all, Clank enjoyed living his new life through the eyes of a _“rebel”_.

_“BEEP REE WUH BER REEP?”_

“Oh, she found out I stole the X-Wing,” he replied. “But instead of grounding me again, Mom is actually sending me away on a mission of my own.”

_“BUH WAH BER WAH?”_

“No Chop…” He frowned, visibly defeated. “Not by myself.” He sighed and grabbed for his bag, shoving contents inside. “She’s sending Dek with me."

Chopper and Clank burst out in binary laughter.

“Hey! I don’t know what you’re laughing at!” Jacen pointed to the floating disc-shaped droid. “Because you’re going too!”

Clank lowered in height and tilted forward as if to bow in shame. Chopper still only laughed his spiteful, wicked sounding cackle as he handed a stray grenade back to Jacen after it had rolled off the table and over to the door.

_"BUR BUH BER WAH?"_

“Just because I don’t need them, doesn’t mean I won’t?” Jacen packed the explosives and added a knife given to him by his grandfather, just for good measure. "Sabine always told me to pack expecting a party."

Chopper nodded in agreement, then made a snide remark about how Jacen wouldn’t have to sneak out for once in order to go out and cause trouble. For once, he had actually gotten permission for it from Hera and he laughed at the sheer irony of it all.

Jacen ignored him and finished shoving the last of his travel necessities into his satchel.

“But get this guys,” he said. “If this goes well, I think Mom is going to let me go on more recon ops, maybe even by myself next time! Heck, I might even get a crew? And recon ops!”

Chopper protested his doubts.

Clank landed on Jacen’s shoulder and instead voiced his concerns.

“Yeah,” he rubbed tenderly at the droid. “Sorry pal, but that means a lot more paint jobs for you. We’re going to need to see if we can’t steal you another temporary leg unit while we’re out. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll run into a rusted probe droid or something? I bet that would work!”

Clank didn’t sound convinced.

Jacen then turned to face the door across the hall and hummed in thought.

“Hmm… speaking of which, I wonder if Sabine left any dark paints in there that are still good? If I don't grab a few now I'll totally forget and I doubt you'd remind me about it later.”

Clank huffed, but agreed to the truth in his statement before settling down into Jacen’s bag, securing himself snuggly between a spare shirt and his datapad before the small red light near his smallest eye bulb flickered away to alert Jacen that he’d powered down.

Clank couldn’t stay active as long as Chopper, but so long as he took frequent naps, the old seeker droid would be good to go when he was needed.

“Hey Chop,” Jacen asked. “Do you think you could go find me a few T-9 bolts and the good wrench so I can make adjustments to Clank before I go?”

The orange astromech shook his head with a grumble, but strolled out into the hallway to go find what he was asked anyway. As he did, Jacen slipped across the hall and stepped into Sabine’s old room,  searching for some spare black paint to cover up all the decals he’d drawn on Clank’s carapace.

The room was the same as she’d left it, albeit a little more dusty than before, but Jacen always liked coming in here to look at her artwork. It was here he got inspired and learned to make the doodles which he drew on Clank’s outer shell. He even learned to make decals into his clothes, something he used to look forward to Sabine doing before she and Ahsoka left to find Ezra.

_Boy was that a wild story._

“Here it is!”

Jacen blew dust from the old bottle of paint and sprayed it once to test.

“Still good!”

He nodded and took a step towards the door before suddenly stopping to stare at her desk. He didn’t normally pilfer through Sabine’s old things unless he was using up some of her old paints, most of which were in bright colors that he assumed she’d used on her armor over the years and didn't need anymore, but today was different. Today he noticed something on that tabletop that caught his attention.

“Hair dye?”

He examined the bottle and checked the dates. They were still good, but teetering too close towards being useless.

“Hmmm…” He pondered. “Black dye? This might actually come in handy. I’m just going to borrow this for now…”

He stepped out and heard Chopper down in the hull digging around for the items Jacen requested and complaining as he did so. He was about to make his way over there to help, when Jacen paused again near his mother’s cabin and a thought crossed his mind.

 _Sure,_ this was just a recon mission and odds were he wasn’t even going to be allowed to leave the shuttle, but still—maybe he would need a little more disguise on a future mission? He’d always wanted to go undercover like in his mother’s Rebel stories.

Sneaking onto a First Order base was a lot harder than doing so on an old Empire one. The First Order was more organized, and they were strict with their identification. While someone might not notice a new face, they would surely recognize the abnormalities and false identity. Recon would be over in a heartbeat. Because of that, there really wasn’t much use for a disguise that wouldn’t really help anybody in the long run.

Still, Jacen wandered in and went over to where his mother kept her collection of old makeup. A few years back, she wore some eyeshadow that was almost a dead ringer for the tan color of Jacen’s skin, and now that she didn’t really use it anymore, Jacen thought he might put the stuff to some good use like the hair dye he found in Sabine's room.

He always liked the way he looked, but he chose to face reality. Jacen knew that he wasn’t really blending in no matter what planet he was on. He was a hybrid, and had been painfully reminded of that fact throughout his entire childhood. Between the kids teasing him about his large ears, the green hues of skin that grew more prominent as he got older, _and of course_  there was also the dark green hair he’d inherited as a mixture of both his parents’ genes... _well,_ there was no one in the galaxy who looked quite like Jacen, so he stuck out a lot no matter where he went.

Not that he considered his hybrid nature a bad thing _for the most part._ His Twi’lek blood gave him stronger than average skin and teeth which was always a good thing to possess in a fight. Plus, his mother’s blood made his body temperature slightly hotter than the average human being, which meant he rarely got chilly at night or on the bases they visited on those frigid arctic planets.

On top of that, and much to the aggravation of some of his friends, the other people his age on each new base always found Jacen to be pretty attractive _in an exotic sort of way._  Being the son of the general didn’t win him too many dates though, and a lot of people held a respectful fear for Hera Syndulla, so many did not think getting on her bad side was worth a flirt with a good looking stranger.

Of course, there were downsides to being a hybrid too. Not fitting in and the constant bullying was one thing, but there were also the physical drawbacks he had to learn to live with, like the soft knotted areas on the back of his head where his lekku would have gone if he’d been born a little more Twi’lek. Those were the worst thing of all. As a kid, he remembered the horrible headaches he’d get, and how painful it was if he’d bumped the back of his head on anything or if someone came up and slapped him there.

The New Republic doctors blame the lekku lumps for not being able to read correctly, and they said it messed with the function of his eyes _or something._ All Jacen knew was that there just were some words he could make out when reading, and the rest typically became garbled and twisted up, like the letter moved and flipped randomly on him as his eyes tried to process the sentences. No matter how much he tried to catch up to the moving letters, they always managed to stay one step ahead of him.

His mother never made him feel outcast for his disability, and for the most part, many of the other troopers on the bases didn’t know Jacen was struggling. Between his mother’s quick thinking and reading out loud, or Clank translating the briefings for him, it wasn’t something that held him back, so much as it did annoy the daylights out of him.

His mother always told him he could be a pilot, and the whole “dyslexia” thing as the medical types called it, wasn’t something that could hinder that career path for him. It wasn’t like he had blood burn or anything, so flying was completely possible. It was never about the transcripts and written tests that came along with being a New Republic starpilot, it was more about the feeling of the ship’s controls in his hands and the natural movement he took as he soared throughout the stars.

He longed for that feeling. The freedom of flight and the chance to shine where he shone best. But not here, not with these rule-book types. What they did wasn’t fly for freedom, no, they were flying for structured living and a well-rounded paycheck.

Jacen snuck out of his mother’s room, just in time to find Chopper on his way back up the hall.

 _“BER BUH WER BUH!”_  Chopper said, tossing the bolts up to him.

He caught them all with one hand, his amazing reflexes not allowing for a single bolt to hit the floor. Chopper knew about this skill, so he also threw the wrench up at him at the same time, and with a trained precision, Jacen caught it effortlessly, placing all of the tools in one of the stray pockets on his bag.

“Thanks Chop,” he said, patting the astromech on the head as he let out an involuntary purr against Jacen's fingertips.

Jacen knew better than to tease Chopper for being affectionate. He’d seen the way Chop hit and shot at other people, like the way he did with Zeb, Kallus, _and basically every other visitor they ever had on the Ghost,_ but Chopper had never done that with Jacen, nor with his mother. To them, he did make an effort to complain about anything and everything, but physically, he was always very gentle towards them.

They made their way back to the landing platform where Jacen paused before taking one step further.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you when I get back, okay Chop?”

Chopper let out an auditory sighing noise and patted Jacen’s leg in return.

“Watch out for Mom while I’m gone, and try not to let her worry about me too much.”

Chopper made a comment that translated into:  _“Oh please, we’ll be glad you’re gone!”_  before listing out all the things he could get done without Jacen around to bug him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jacen laughed. “The feeling’s mutual!”

He might come off as kind of prude and mean to most, but Jacen knew just how much Chopper really cared, and because of that, he made sure to wave one last time before heading back towards the main hangar.

As Jacen stepped into the building, his boots hit the floors with a new sense of purpose. Sure, he’d snuck out before and flown into town or over to the neighboring moons and  planets, but this… No, this was the first step towards an exciting new future filled with infinite possibilities, and Jacen could not wait to finally get his feet wet.

  

 

* * *

 

“I don’t like this, Dek.”

Jacen could hear the argument long before approaching the small huddle near one of the old YT-Light Freighters salvaged from the Civil War. They were easily recognizable, standing out amongst the other human pilots both because of their colorful skin tones and the way Rol’juh’s worried voice carried throughout the hangar.

“There there, my queen,” The blue Nautolan said, his shape three times the size of his small yellow-skinned Twi’lek wife. Still, he parted her long lekku and rubbed comfortingly on her shoulders, soothing her as his duffel bag sat ready to go by his feet.

“Why does it have to be you?” She complained. “General, can’t you send someone else? Anyone else?”

Hera quickly masked the guilt that she wanted to show on her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking when I recommended Dek, but there is no one I trust more on this mission.”

“And you promise it isn’t dangerous?” She continued.

“It is a simple recon op, just there and back.”

Dek patted her shoulders again. “There my love, you see? It will all be over before you know it.” He turned to Hera. “General, I am honored that you would trust me with a mission so close to your heart. Worry not, Jacen will be safe under my watch.”

“I think I’m the one who should be thanking you. Thank you for accepting the job on such short notice, Dek.” She saw Jacen approaching and waved him over. “There he is. Jacen!”

He stepped up to the huddle with a slight caution. Rol’juh was glaring him down with her bright orange eyes which seemed to shine like lava whenever she got angry. 

In all his years, Jacen had only feared two women and they were his mother, and Senator Leia Organa, _but still_ he knew when it was best to avoid confrontation with a woman, and right now, that sense was alerting him to stay far, far away from her at all costs.

“Jacen, you remember Rol’juh,” Hera introduced.

“Yes ma’am,” Jacen nodded, hoping that if he acted extra polite, the expecting mother-to-be wouldn’t try to rip his arms off. “It’s nice to see you again. I love the work you and Kase are doing on the X-Wings.”

_Spice it up with a compliment,_ Jacen thought. _That was sure to get him on her good side._

The yellow Twi’lek was unswayed, her waist-length lekku twitching slightly with aggravation as she placed a hand on her bulging stomach. 

“We would have less work if you weren’t always taking them out for your little joyrides, young Syndulla.”

He swallowed and took one large step towards his mother. Just because he had no lekku didn't mean he couldn't understand the subtle language that her's were giving off.  He wasn't quite to _"may salt spice your wounds"_ but he was getting pretty close.

“I look forward to working with you, Jacen,” Dek smiled, his deep-voiced optimism cutting the unspoken tension of the room to molecules. “It has been a long time since we’ve had a chance to hang out together.”

“Oh, how long has it been since you two were training?” Hera asked, her voice nostalgic as she thought back to the happier times of Jacen's childhood before he started acting like a teenager.

“At least seven years,” Dek said with a laugh. “You were such a promising student! I’m still eager to see how much more your skills will grow, Jacen. There is greatness in you!”

He tried his best to smile politely, but this was just the kind of mushy filler-talk that Jacen knew his mother would use to stall their mission.

“Well—” Jacen clapped and resisted the urge to throw his bag onto the ship. _He figured Clank would thank him for that later._ “The sooner we head out, the sooner we can come back!” He was supposed to sound eager, but Jacen’s voice noticeably deflated at the mention of having to come back. He hoped no one else heard it.

Rol’juh sniffed, tears in her eyes that managed to melt the lava color into more of a sunrise orange. Frowning, she stretched as far as her toes would allow her and kissed her husband goodbye as Dek, who was still having to bend down significantly to reach her lips, fell to a knee to place one more kiss on her stomach before rising and hugging her for a final time.

“Worry not my sunlight,” he said. “I will see you both again as soon as I can. General Syndulla will take good care of you until I return.”

Hera jolted, but only Jacen noticed.

“Of course!” She spoke quickly. “Anything you need! I am all yours!”

Rol’juh was still frowning, but she wiped her tears and nodded slightly at the offer before a light flickered across her eyes and she gasped excitedly.

“Now that you mention it, Jacen is a hybrid child!” She pointed and Jacen as he felt his face flush. “You can tell me what to expect with my baby!”

Hera’s skin managed to turn a shade lighter, but she hid it masterfully beneath a forced laugh. “Sure…” Her voice stretched out the word uncomfortably before adding, “Though I’m not sure how well human genetics transfer to a Nautolan’s. I’m afraid I probably won’t be much use to you."

“Nonsense!” She shouted, earning a few looks from two pilots across the hangar.

Dek only stood there silently watching his wife as though there were nothing more interesting in this galaxy to lay eyes on. It was sweet, but in a way that made Jacen wrinkle his nose.

"I guess I could tell you what I can?" Hera supposed.

“Yes! That would be super helpful General Syndulla! Oh! If I could make you my doula, I totally would.” She pondered to herself a moment, muttering, “Can I? Hmm?”

Hera’s smile verged on the territory of gritted teeth, making Jacen suppress a chuckle beneath his hand. 

She turned her attention to him and Jacen half thought she was going to look angry, before seeing her mixed facial expression. Her mouth was slanted in a frown, brows arched upward pensively, and yet she still managed to give of the impression of pride. It was a look that she rarely got and one that made her skin look gray with melancholy and old memories.

_No doubt, she was reliving his whole life in a single instant._ Jacen thought.

She reached behind his neck and pulled him towards her hug, her cheek rubbing against his as her grip tightened and just as quickly released.

“Alright…” she sighed once. “You two be careful and report back to us as soon as you reach Lannik.”

“Sure Mom,” Jacen said, returning her hands to her own side before taking a step into the ship.

“And watch out for other pilots!” She almost yelled. “And Purrgil in the hyperspace lanes— and—”

“Alright Mom!”

She smiled and tilted her head to the side. 

“May the Force be with you.”

Jacen stared down at her from the platform, allowing Dek to pass him onto the ship with a final wave down to the two Twi’lek women below. He smiled, stood taller, and waved once before turning to follow and shutting the hatch door behind them.

“The controls are all yours.” Dek pointed. “Let’s see how deeply that Syndulla blood courses through your veins, shall we?”

Jacen sat and took only a moment to familiarize himself with the panel. He placed his hands on the controls and instantly felt the strong sensation of complete tranquility travel through his veins, followed swiftly by a rush of adrenalin and a new sense of adventure. For once, the lingering conscious of guilt that typically followed him whenever he snuck out on missions was completely gone.

“Oh, we’ll see it alright!” he smiled. “Strap in! Let’s see what this baby can do!”

The Light Freighter made it into the skies and disappeared shortly after, leaving Hera to stare into the yellowing sunset as she watched her son fly away from her yet again. He’d been on plenty of missions, but she’d always kept him close or even gone with him. This was different. He didn’t have her, he didn’t have a well-trained crew, a flight plan, or a fleet to back him up. It was just him, an old Seeker Droid, and Dek. 

What if he did something against her orders?  _Oh, who was she kidding, of course he would._  Knowing him, he was already hatching a plan to separate from Dek and run off to face the pirates solo. She knew he probably would, but she was still going to trust him. Of course, that didn’t make her worry any less. That boy was headstrong like his father and stubborn like herself. He could handle himself well though. She never worried that he wouldn't be able to get out of trouble, but she always worried that her son would somehow manage to get himself into some. _He was just like his father in that regard._  

Kanan, Ezra, even Sabine and Zeb were all somewhere else now, most of them far away and others so far she couldn’t reach them if she tried. They all had to leave her eventually and she knew Jacen was no exception, but still, she just—  she thought she’d have a little more time with him before that day would come. 

She had just started to wonder if maybe she should have sent Chopper with them for good measure, before Rol’juh tapped her shoulder and broke her out of her trance.

“So General, how old is Jacen now?” she asked.

“He’s Fifteen,” Hera said, smiling up at the sky as she marveled at how grown up her baby boy was getting. To think of all the things she had done at his age. She was surprised she hadn't given her father stress marks.

Rol’juh sighed and rocked Hera back and forth by the shoulder.

“Teenagers sure are exhausting, aren’t they?”

Hera resisted the urge to shoot her a sideways glance. The girl was hardly older that Jacen, maybe in her mid twenties, and even Dek was only about ten years older than her son was. What did they know about teenagers when they were practically teens themselves? _She must be getting old,_ Hera thought. If she was condemning a pair of new parents for being too young to criticize people younger than them. _Give them ten more years,_ she chuckled,  _then they could talk to her about "exhausting"._

Hera only laughed and patted Rol’juh’s shoulder as she turned to head back towards the war room for her next meeting.

“First rule of parenting advice...” she smiled. “Children are born exhausting.”

The yellow Twi’lek frowned and tried to make sense of what she’d been told before trailing behind her and preparing all sorts of follow up questions.

“Wait, General! What does that mean? General?!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: December 8, 2018

#  **Chapter Three:**

## Hanna City, _Nine Years Ago:_

 

“Mommy! Mommy! Look!”

Jacen was pointing out at the parade, his eyes eager and more vividly teal than usual underneath the unique Chandrila atmosphere.

“I see them, Jacen, I see them!” Hera laughed.

“Don’t squirm around up there so much, kid!” Zeb warned.

“Oh, let him have his fun,” Kallus added. “It’s not everyday that we get to enjoy a Liberation Day parade this—  _ummm?”_

“Massive?” he finished, grumbling again as they were all shoved for what was probably the twelfth time since the parade started. Neither of them had really wanted to come out to the crowd today, Chopper actually refused to come, but once Jacen asks you specifically to go with him somewhere, neither the largest Lasat nor the sternest ex-Imperial were any match for those big eyes and that innocent little face.

“That’s a word for it...”

“Good turnout though, right?”

“You know, Hera, as a general, you could probably have been allowed on stage with the others?”

She narrowly dodged another shove and smiled up at Jacen who was rocking back and forth atop Zeb’s shoulders.

“I suppose... but I think I like the view from down here much better, Kallus, don't you?”

He grinned and nodded back in agreement.

“I’m just glad Kashyyyk was finally Liberated!” Zeb shouted, his voice drown out by the loud music and cheering as one of the holographic acrobats did a quadruple flip near the balcony where Mon Mothma and the other senators were sitting.

“Wow!” Jacen awed, his small hands clapping rapidly alongside the rest of the crowd’s applause.

“What did you say, Zeb?!” Kallus yelled.

Hera waved him off with a smile. There was no way anyone would be able to talk now that the acrobats were performing.

It was strange. With all she’s put into this Resistance, Hera thought she should have been more excited about Liberation Day, but she was about as happy to be here as Zeb was, and that was only because she knew at this very moment, the infamous Imperial, Rae Sloane, was sitting up there on that balcony next to Mon Mothma, plotting _who knows what_ against them.  _Rae Sloane…_ The troublesome woman whom she and Kanan had once crossed paths with on Gorse on the day they first met. It was the same woman who spent years of her life afterward stalking Kanan before trying to capture him unsuccessfully on Lahn. In the heat of everything since Endor, she had apparently been promoted to Grand Admiral, but Hera already had an entire lifetime's worth of trouble thanks to the last Grand Admiral she encountered. _She didn't need another._

She wasn't alone in her reservations about the woman either. There were many unhappy people in Hanna City who didn’t like the fact that Sloane had come to Chandrila. _Hera was just at the very top of that list was all._ That woman could not be trusted. Hera would have told Mon as much herself, but the fact that she had spent the last few months away cleaning up Endor had kept her away from the inner circle for far too long. By the time she’d heard about it, Mon Mothma was already in a position where she would not be swayed to change her mind.

So here she was... at the parade, keeping her distance, pretending to enjoy the festivities, but all the while knowing who sat at Mon's side, and wondering if Sloane even realized that Hera had her in her sights. _Sloane had been so focused on Kanan for those last years, did she even remember her?_ She wondered this with a bit of dry humor before shaking her head and looking back to her son. He was so much like Kanan that sometimes it astounded her. How different would this all have felt if he were here with her today? Would he feel the same about Sloane as she did? Or would he have insisted she go up to sit with the other generals just so she could rub Sloane's nose in some of her own military achievements? She laughed to herself at that thought. _Knowing Kanan, it was probably the latter and he would be right along side her with a few quips of his own to throw in._

Plus, Jacen wanted to see the parade, and Hera owed this to her son for being away from him for so long. She hated it, but duty demanded sacrifice. She hoped that she wasn't turning into her father, but often reminded herself that it wouldn’t be much longer that she'd be fighting so much, what with the way the Resistance was dwindling the Empire’s forces every single day. Maybe soon, she and her son could finally live together in a galaxy free of this wretched war. Maybe soon she wouldn't be away so often and they could spend every day together doing whatever in the galaxy they wanted without any worries at all?

_That was the dream at least._

She looked up at the balcony, glaring at the dark skinned figure in white. She didn’t need to see her clearly to know that the woman was indeed Rae Sloane, and she glared daggers at her before a fit of streamers exploded through the air, blocking her view as Jacen’s cheers rang louder over all other sounds coming from the rest of the crowd.

She blinked and shook her thoughts clean.

 _Enough of this..._  she told herself. _Try to put on a happy face... for Jacen._

They’d gotten pretty close seats, but weren’t exactly on the front row. Still, her son was having fun, and that was all that really mattered. He was gleaming and pointing, squirming around atop Zeb’s shoulders, and tugging at his ears every time he saw something especially cool. That is... until his smile suddenly started to fade, and Hera frowned as his face contorted, turning green in a way that was not normal for him. It was all so sudden but to Hera it might as well had been in slow motion.

“What’s wrong love?” She asked, tapping roughly against Zeb’s arm as the Lasat peeked behind his back and saw Jacen’s new turn of emotions. He pulled the little boy up high and then set him to the ground as Hera knelt down to feel his forehead and touch his flushing cheeks. He was warmer than usual too.

“You alright there chief?” Zeb asked, Kallus breaking his gaze on the Gabdorin band passing by to see what was going on with their now flustered little six year old.

“Mommy, I don’t feel good...” he groaned, his voice a sad little whimper that broke all three of their hearts to hear.

They all exchanged a look.

“What doesn’t feel good, baby?”

He motioned in a wide circle that covered the entirety of his head, chest, and stomach all at once, just as his face visibly drained as though all of the happiness had been poured right out of him.

“It’s okay love, we’ll get you home and into a nice warm bed, okay?”

He nodded and sniffed, snuggling into her chest as Hera looked back up at Zeb and Kallus, scooping Jacen into her arms rubbing a soothing hand in little circles against his back in one masterfully orchestrated movement as she rose back to a stand.

“He’s got a fever," she said with some toned down concern. "We should go.”

“Right!” Zeb nodded, Kallus also moving in agreement as they began parting people out of their way and through the crowd.

Hera turned back for only a moment when she heard the stage coming out, watching as Mon Mothma stepped up to deliver her speech that was broadcast loudly through all of the square. By the time they made it to the edge of the great crowd, Mon was already talking about those many prisoners rescued from Kashyyyk by Han Solo and Nora Wexley’s team, and Hera admitted that she had wanted to hear this, but that didn't matter now. Her baby’s health was more important, and she turned her back on it all.

Which is precisely when they all heard that single shot fired.

_***PEW!*** _

A sudden cold streak shot up her spine as if every thought she'd worried about in the last day had just come true. Screams now were echoing through the streets, no longer the happy jovial shouts of happy parade goers, but the horrified blood-chilling cries that came when something truly terrible was happening. They were too far away to see, but the crowd was starting to fracture as people began fleeing the stage area. Blasters were going off as flashes lit up the crowd and people struck by the bolts yelled once in pain before falling forward as anxious, frightened people filled in the gaps, no doubt trampling right over the fallen bodies as they shoved one another to escape the chaos.

Zeb placed both of his large hands on Hera’s shoulders and gave her a sharp shove as the mob headed their way, and all three started running.

“What’s going on!?” She yelled.

“Mon Mothma’s been shot!” Zeb screamed back, his ears flattening. He was tall enough and had good enough vision to have seen the stage from this far back, and Hera felt a wave of panic spread through her as she held Jacen closer.

He looked over her shoulder with wide terrified eyes watching as the crowd beat their way around them, remembering only the sick feeling of pain in his head and stomach, and helpless to do anything but watch as the thousands of frightened people in the crowd barreled towards them. His mother handed him up to Zeb to keep him from being buffeted too badly, as she pointed towards the hangar and shouted out orders in her general's voice.

“Get Jacen to the Ghost! Now! Go!”

She looked back and had half a mind to run back through the crowd. To go to Mon Mothma and try to help in some way, but she felt a firm hand grab her right shoulder and she stopped, remembering the last time she’d felt a hand touch her in that particular place. Back then she thought it couldn’t have been real, but she could have sworn it felt like Kanan comforting her just hours after his death had rattled them all. She allowed that same shock to jolt through her just for a moment when the hand pulled back, and she saw now that It was only Kallus, the man looking at her with such a serious stare, his eyes making a motion over to Jacen before he shook his head and bore his glare directly into her.

“Not this time General. We need you with us.”

She was about to protest, but saw Jacen looking over Zeb’s shoulder, his big, frightened eyes, watery and worried. There wasn't much to argue about after seeing that.

“No... No you’re right. Let’s go.”

“We’ll figure this out, Hera!” Zeb grumbled. “But first we have to look out for our own.”

She nodded.

“It’s going to be alright Jacen!” She yelled up at him. “Everything's going to be alright!”

His head lifted as he pointed and screamed.

“Mommy!”

She turned as one of the newly rescued rebels, an old pilot she once knew back before she went to Gorse, Korgi Torvada, approached in full sprint. He had been missing in action for nearly fifteen years, thought dead for just about as long, only... he wasn't. He had been one of the many captured Rebels liberated from Kashyyyk, and brought to Liberation Day, only now, Hera could barely even recognized him anymore. He looked wild, his face an unrecognizable mesh of rage and fury. He pointed his blaster at her, but Hera kicked the gun out of his hands before delivering one sharp blow right into the man’s nose, Kallus coming in for the final tackle as he knocked the deranged man into the dirt and out cold against the hard ground.

“What was that about?” Zeb asked, his large hands now covering the entirety of Jacen’s head and back as he attempted to shield the boy from whatever dangers lurked beneath the swarm of people around them.

“I don’t know!?” Hera took a few breaths and helped Kallus back to his feet. “But we’re being targeted! Go! We have to go! Now! Come on!”

“Jacen, keep your head down!” His mother ordered, the three running harder now to make it back to the safety of the hangar about a mile away. She kept saying it, but each time Jacen had trouble believing it. “Everything is going to be okay!” She said. "Everything will be okay!"

He wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t find the strength to look away at the mass of people darting in all directions like a swarm of panicked insects that had just had their nest dropped from a tree. He heard the shots, heard the screams, and his terrible feeling in his gut and head only grew the worse in his panic. His mother's, Uncle Kal's, and Uncle Zeb's own worries were easy to read and to feel, even though Jacen himself almost felt too sick and scared to think.

Suddenly, Jacen saw another man with a blaster coming for them, his feet stomping in a harsh run, blaster pointed right at his Uncle Zeb’s back or maybe even at his mommy’s head. He had the same dark feeling surrounding his head and the same angry emotions clouding his heart as the scary man they had just faced, and as his bad feelings grew inside of him, Jacen stuck out his hand, wanting nothing more than to make this new bad man go away. So that was exactly what he did. He waved his hand out in front of his face as if to shoo the gunman off to the side and amazingly, the man’s foot slid out from under him, tripping him as he tumbled over himself and slammed face first into the hard ground. He did not get back up, and in a flash, Jacen’s bad feeling instantly went away. No more people with blasters came for them after that, though the worry stayed within all of their minds until they were all safely back on board the Ghost with Chopper, readying themselves for a fight that never came, and waiting out the frightening parade events together.

Jacen couldn't remember that part though because by then he was already tucked away in bed, so tired and drained from his sudden sickness that he fell asleep only moments after his mother had kissed him goodnight. When he woke up the next day... it was all over.

 

* * *

 

## Near the planet Lannik, _Present Day:_

 

“Jacen?”

He looked up suddenly and saw the black void of space, the single boring planet rotating so slowly as it's day ticked by below.

“ _Wh-huh?_ _Oh!_ Sorry...” He rubbed his eyes and groaned. “I guess I spaced out for a minute there. What were you saying, Dek?”

“I was simply telling the story of how I met my beloved, Rol’juh. It was just before Liberation Day, we enjoyed the parade together as a first date, and it was all going rather well before all of that unpleasantness took place with those poor brain-washed refugees.”

“No... yeah... I remember.” He nodded. “I was there too.”

“Right!” Dek frowned, his voice hollow despite the sympathetic smile he shot over in Jacen’s direction. “It must have seemed so terrifying for you to be so young and to see so much horror. It was to me and back then and— _why—_ I imagine I was just a little older than you are now.”

“Yeah...” he scoffed, blowing the loose strands of green out of his eyes as he slammed his feet up on the dashboard. “I hate parades.”

Clank blipped from where he was plugged into the main computer and Jacen sat up.

“I read you buddy. Dek, it looks like we got another one leaving Lannik at point two-eight. That makes four of them in the last hour.”

“More than enough to plot out a route for our troops, don’t you agree?” He stood and stretched once before strapping himself back into the chair. “Shall we call this mission done then and return you to your mother and I to my beloved wife?”

_What? That was it? His one moment of guilt-free freedom and all he got out of it was a few measly hours of piloting and a lackluster stakeout mission while listening to stories about Dek’s love life and reliving old nightmares?_

_Oh yeah… thanks a lot Mom..._  Jacen thought to himself with a roll of his eyes. _I learned so much!_

Just as he was about to protest his thoughts aloud, an odd ship came into view at an odd trajectory and suddenly stopped just outside the reach of Lannik's orbit. It was an old bulk-freighter, Action VI, transport class, built before the Clone Wars era, and modified by the Empire _it looked like_ in order to attack Rebellion Corvettes. The shields ranged around 220 SBD, and it took a crew of around eight to fly— if Jacen was remembering his ships correctly that is, which he highly trusted was the case. The stats didn’t really matter... what caught his attention the most was the side painted in worn away yellow and red symbols known most popularly as pirate slang symbology.

“Hey Dek...” He motioned. “You see that ship there? Point, uh— ”

_BREEP! BLIP!_

“Point two-five, thanks Clank.”

The Nautolan peered out the viewport and nodded.

“Yes, I can see it. What about it?”

“That’s a bulk freighter stolen from the Empire,” Jacen explained. “Those kinds of shuttles have massive exterior upgrades. The shields on that thing are stronger than the Millennium Falcon’s!”

“Interesting! But why is it any different than the other smuggling ships seen in this area?”

Jacen rolled his eyes.

“Because this one has a pirate’s insignia plastered all over the side! See?” Jacen pointed. “No doubt that this has to be the head ship to be flying around in something so well defended! Plus, all that paint just proves they’re confident in their little posse enough to brag about it. If I'm recognizing the use of color and linework right, then they might even be some sort of fraction coming off of Eleodie Maracavanya’s pirate brigade!”

Dek smiled.

“A wise observation. I’m impressed! You really know your stuff, Jacen.” He shook his head as his tentacled lek shook around with the motion. “But if you’re leading into what I think you’re leading into, then let me stop you right there. We are here merely to observe and not to engage, remember?”

Jacen huffed and fell back into his seat.

“Yeah yeah… I know… I know… I just thought it might be interesting to note that in our report, is all...”

Truthfully, Jacen was hoping maybe Dek would let him take the pirate ship out, but of course he never got his hopes up for that much. He sighed and cracked his knuckles. _No...it seems his mom’s mission for him was going to be just about as dull as he’d feared at the start. Oh well… at least his mom had let him go in the first place. It wasn’t as much fun as sneaking into an X-Wing and checking out the surrounding cities to cause a little trouble, but hey? Beggars can’t be choosers, right?_

“Besides!” Dek continued. “It isn’t like our current shuttle can do much in the way of—”

He paused, his notable smile fading in a brief instant as Jacen shot him a sideways look.

“In the way of what?”

“It’s coming this way...” He frowned. “Odd?” Dek leaned forward and started pressing buttons on the co-pilot’s side before pointing back towards the controls. “Jacen. Prepare yourself, we must go immediately!”

“What? Why would the pirates be coming towards us?” He sat up, worried, but resisting the urge to give off an eager smile. Sure this was a bad sign, but in a way, it was also kind of exciting. Jacen strapped in and flipped three of the engine switches before looking back to Dek.

“Perhaps they were meeting someone out here and we managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Just prepare the jump to hyperspace and we can get out of here before they try to board.”

The little red light suddenly started flashing in the center of the dashboard, indicating that the pirates were trying to hail them to speak.

“Dek… They’re trying to talk to us!” Jacen pointed. “What if we ask them what they want? Isn’t gathering intel something we were sent here to do?”

Dek frowned, considering it, but ultimately shaking his head as he pressed for switches on the controls to wake their ship up from its idle sit.

“No, that would be far too risky. We should just leave with the path we have mapped out and get back to base. Just ignore it and prepare the jump.”

Clank booped in agreement and Jacen let out a defeated huff.

“Fine!” He flipped a few more switches and shot Dek an aggravated look. “We’re ready to jump whenever.”

“Alright,” he nodded. “On my mark then. Three... Two... On—”

Suddenly, a large, dark shadow brushed over their viewport, cutting Dek’s countdown short as it filled the YT with the cool ominous contour of the ship directly above. Even Jacen felt his mouth drop as all three of them stared into the viewport to get an eyeful of the massive vessel overhead. It was a Light-Cruiser, First Order class, even though it appeared to be transmitting a signal as if to claim it was just an ordinary freighter.  _A trick they stole from the Ghost?_ he wondered. _Or was it really just a freighter?_ No... Jacen knew his ships, that was the First Order, there was no doubt about it.

“Dek...” he whispered, both starring up as the massive ship slowed to a stop so close above them that Jacen could spit and probably hit it right on the underbelly.

The Nautolan’s black eyes widened if it were possible, his gaze never breaking from the sight above.

“I know…” he said softly.

“But, why would the First Order be this far out? Do you think it has anything to do with the pirates?”

“There is only one way to find out now?” Dek frowned and motioned a finger to his lips as he pressed towards the comm button. “How can we help you, friends?” He asked jovially, his voice dripping with newfound confidence and a slight Imperial accent to mask his own. “As you can see, we are here, right as planned.”

The voice on the other line didn’t sound convinced.

“ _You’re_ with the First Order?”

“We were sent ahead to make sure the deal would run properly. As you can see above us, we deemed it safe for our comrades to arrive for your shipment. It is all there I assume?”

The pirate make a hocking spitting sound on the other end, and Jacen lifted his lip.

“What do you take us for, some kind of amateurs? Of course it’s all here! You got our spice load to pay for all of it, I hope? We’d hate for this to get—messy.”

 _Spice?_   Jacen wondered. _Since when does the First Order pay in spice? For that matter, since when did the First Order start dealing with pirates?_

“Oh we have it. Now if you will kindly board our ship, the transaction will resume.”

“Yeah yeah...” he scoffed. “You and your First Order always doing things the odd way…”

“Just board and we can—”

“Pirate Vessel, _Vividity,_ this is Captain Ardyn Sloane of the First Order. Do you have our shipment ready to deploy?”

Jacen and Dek tensed as they heard the woman’s voice come through the pirate’s scratchy holo-feed.

“What is this?” He barked back sourly. “I already told your little scouts that we were ready. What do you take us for, eh?”

“Scouts?” her voice repeated.

“Yeah, the little light-freighter. Wait? Are they not with you?”

Her voice was quiet as the YT jolted to a halt and Clank screeched at them in quiet but frantic binary.

“No...” she said sourly. “They most certainly are not.”

“What’s going on?” Jacen asked, unable to budge the ship. “Don't tell me. Are we—”

“Caught in a tractor beam...” Dek swallowed. “Look sharply, Jacen. I believe your wish for an exciting adventure is about to come true.”

The line went dead, as the ship pulled higher into the First Order Vessel, the pirate's own vessel following suit to the hangar bay as Jacen looked to Dek with wide eyes of his own. He had never been captured before. Heck... he had never even gotten the chance to fight actual First Order troops before. He was running on old stories of Imperial warfare and a few ex-stormtroopers and local thugs from the that towns that they were flying through.

“What do we do? Do we fight?”

Dek was silent.

“We are no match for all of them, Jacen.”

He grabbed for his bag and flipped it open.

“I have explosives! We can do something with those, right?”

“Why did you bring—” He shook his head. “Never mind. That could help as a distraction. Tell me, does your droid have all of the data we need?”

“Clank?”

The disk shaped robot chirped an affirmative.

“Very well. Then here is what is going to happen Jacen. We are going to be brought into the hangar. From there we can use your detonators to blow our ship and in the commotion make our escape to one of the TIE fighters. We can use the deflector shields to avoid most of their return fire which will give us just enough time to activate the hyperdrive, escape, and disable the tracking beacon as we make our way back to the Resistance.”

Jacen’s eyes widened.

“O-Okay… So, what do you want me to do?”

Dek smiled.

“First breathe. Remain calm.”

“I’m calm!” Jacen argued, though his voice squeaked slightly to prove otherwise and he grimaced, trying to hide the blush afterwards.

“I will set off the bombs, you just be prepared to run. You are the pilot. You will be in charge of flying us out of here, understood?”

“Me?” He smirked. “Fly the TIE?”

“Are you up to the challenge young Syndulla?”

He cracked his knuckles.

“Oh frag yeah!”

“Language.”

“Sorry…”

 

* * *

 

“Well how was I supposed to know that they weren't with you guys?” The pirate complained. “They were parked in the rendezvous coordinates!”

“Your loose lips could very well have ruined our entire operation!” The Lieutenant snarled.

“Look, we didn’t tell them nothin’! No harm no foul!”

“Maybe for you!" He sneered. "Just get the rest of that cargo unloaded and we’ll see what we can do about your payment.”

“Fine…”

“Dek, did you hear that?”

“Yes. Seems we really are caught in the middle of some larger operation.”

“With the First Order here, the New Republic Senate will have to deploy troops to Lannik to investigate!”

“If we can get back with the intel, young Syndulla. One step at a time.”

“Right. So, do you have the explosives ready?”

“Of course.” He grinned, pointing to the doors immediately afterward with a frown. “Now, any second those doors are going to open and they’re going to send in stormtroopers to detain us. Considering the size of our ship and the fact they know virtually nothing about us, I suspect a total of three will be allowed to enter.”

“Right. We can take three on two odds…”

Clank blipped in stout offense.

"Oh please? You’re going to fight them?" Jacen laughed. "You run away screaming at the first sign of danger!"

The droid growled.

“No, no… I believe in you, droid. Okay. Three on three odds then. As soon as they’re detained, we will have maybe a one minute window before the second battalion comes in to check on them. Jacen, you’re probably just about the right size to change into one of their suits and sneak over to the TIE fighters unnoticed. How quickly can you change?”

“Well, I’ve never timed it, but I know what goes where. It’s in my blood. I can do it, don’t worry.”

“Very well. Once you are in the TIE, I’ll detonate the bombs and race over while the remaining crew is distracted, then we’ll make a break for it in the chaos. Plan?”

“Plan!”

_BLEEP!_

As the clang of hot saw metal slammed into the floor, Jacen heard three sets of feet clamoring towards their location. Through all the adrenaline he was starting to feel now, it didn’t stop the one second of gut-wrenching fear that washed over him, before that too faded away, and he prepared himself to fight.

**_*SLAM!*_ **

The door fell forward and the troopers rushed in, basters drawn, only to find an empty hull.

“What the—”

“Must be hiding?” One groaned. “Spread out and find them!”

They turned just as Dek fell from the ceiling and grinned.

“You found me!”

They didn’t even have time to mouth a response before _**WHAM!**_   Dek shot up and delivered a spinning back-kick to the first trooper’s helmet, the man losing his grip on his own rifle as it slammed into the second trooper, who caught it with an ungraceful fumble back into the wall.

“Shoot him!” The lead soldier ordered angrily.

Dek had just enough time to slam that trooper onto his knee before tossing the man’s weight into the other and both collapsed to the floor, Dek swaying from side to side as the final stormtrooper stood back to his full height and tried to get a good aim on the Nautolan’s skull.

Dek’s smirk turned into a wide smile and he paused.

“You should really check your rear, my friend.”

“Yeah right, like I’m going to just turn around and—”

Jacen whistled, making the soldier jump and turn just in time to see the green haired boy holding a small disk-shaped droid at the center of his visor.

“What!?”

With a buzzing zap, Clank sent the butt of his electroprod right into the man’s faceplate, and Jacen kicked him back with a final foot to the gut. All three of them out cold against the cockpit floors. 

“Very well done.”

“Well done me? You were amazing!” Jacen awed. “That was WAY cooler than what you taught back at the dojo! Just— Wow!”

“You should see the technique underwater!” Dek laughed. “Now hurry and change. I think we were quiet enough, but I fear our window may be shorter than anticipated.”

“Oh, right! Yeah!” Jacen found the stormtrooper closest to his own size and stole the uniform. It was a loose fit, Jacen not yet having the height or muscles to fill out a complete suit of armor quite yet, but it would have to do.

“Now let’s go!”

“Wait... what about these guys?” Jacen stopped.

Dek shot him a look that Jacen could just barely make out beneath the helmet. _Regret._  He looked back and shook his head. _Casualties in war…_ he thought. If they wanted to get out it was either them or the troopers. He didn’t have time to be sentimental now, but damn if it didn’t still sting a little.

“Right. Sorry. Never mind. Let’s just go! Come on Clank!”

“Now, Jacen, you’ll have only a few moments head start before the First Order catches on to us, walk casually.”

"Got it."

"Good."

He slammed the button and Jacen stepped out onto the landing platform as calmly as he could, hoping the other four troopers, two officers, and the handful of rough and grimy-looking pirates didn't see through his disguise.

"You there. Where are the prisoners?"

"I uh..." Jacen stammered.  _Any time now, Dek..._

_***KA-BOOM!*** _

The ship blasted apart to a rocketing ball of fire as everyone lost their footing and fell to the ground. Jacen stumbled only slightly as he took off into a quick run. He had his hands around the ladder to the TIE fighters before he heard the shouting and the alarms start to blare.

"Come on Dek, where are you?" He muttered.

_BREEP! BLIP! BER! BOOP!_

"He'll make it. He'll make it!" Jacen assured, tossing his bag and droid into the cockpit.

"You there! Stop!"

He turned a final time, thinking that the warning was meant for him, but instead it seems it was made for Dek. He watched from above as the blue Nautolan took out troopers left and right, getting maybe five armored soldiers and even a few of the pirates with his attacks before he was suddenly surrounded on all sides.

"Surrender spy!"

"Oh no... I am no spy?" Dek smiled, hands lifting slowly, though there was something shiny he seemed to have held in his left hand. "Just passing through."

"All troopers, fire!"

A beep, and this time it was the entire YT-freighter that exploded. Jacen felt his stomach drop, the visor of his helmet going hot as the huge fireball took everything out in one grand explosion. _Dek must have set the engines to blow when he was placing the bombs around the ship!?  But why?_ He was so close to the blast too... He could be hurt... or worse! 

Which was probably his plan all along, Jacen thought suddenly, realizing that Dek Lorrok, who was an experienced war veteran, teacher to the Resistance, and soon to be father would not hesitate to sacrifice his very life just to save Jacen's own. No... he couldn't accept that. Not like this. Not with Dek.

"Watch the bag and stay hidden, Clank! I'm going to help Dek!"

The droid started to protest, but Jacen had already slid down the ladder and ran over to the huddle of bodies sprawled across the scene. The sounds of footsteps and soldiers were growing louder now, no doubt every soldier they had would be in on their position quicker than a Mynock on a power cable in a matter of seconds. It was hard to see through all the smoke, and even harder to see through this worthless helmet, but a Nautolan in the middle of the First Order wasn't that hard to miss and he quickly rushed to his side.

"Dek!"

He was burned and battered, but alive, and he groaned as Jacen lifted him to his shoulder and helped him back to his feet.

"J-Jacen?" He coughed. "You were supposed to escape?"

"Not without you!"

Dek shook his head.

"Still just as stubborn as you were back in the d-dojo."

"Hey, that's in my blood too? What can I say?" He helped Dek up the ladder and looked as the doors swung open to reveal the hoard of new troopers coming their way. "Better hurry though. We've got company, and it's not the fun kind!"

"They're trying to escape!" Someone shouted.

"Quickly! Fire!"

A stun blast struck the TIE and shook the entire vessel as Dek groaned, slipping off of the ladder as both men hit the floor with a thud, only Jacen managing to roll to a stand. He alone was armed with a single swiped First Order rifle against maybe twenty or more soldiers, all with weapons of their own. Those were lousy odds even for the Jedi. Still, Jacen aimed his blaster to fire, getting maybe two good shots out before another swarm of stun-rings came towards him.  _Range over effective fire?_ Whoever was running this ship, obviously wanted to have a few words with the two of them, and as he felt the multiple shots of quick wringing pain from the blue lasers electrocute every inch of his being, he collapsed into the floor with only one hope left in his mind.

_If we want to get out of here alive, then nobody better find my droid._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: December 15, 2018

#  **Chapter Four:**

## Aboard _the Steadfast:_

 

Another bolt of electricity was sent coursing through him followed by the single hard  **_SMACK_ ** to bring him back to full attention. 

He smelled smoke and wondered if it was the faulty First Order tech or else his skin was just burning. Either way, he wasn’t about to give this buckethead the pleasure of seeing him affected by the zaps, both for his own pride and because that’s how he was always taught to get through interrogation. It would hurt more, but it would buy both him and his people more time in the long run, so for that simple reason, he could stall as long as needed until he thought up a plan to get himself, Dek, and Clank out of this mess.

_If there was one way to stall, it was to get the guy doing the torture to forget his duties for his own raging emotions._

Jacen lifted his eyes and smiled, his teeth bloody, as he tilted his head to one side in as much of a nod as he could make strapped upright to the table.

“Has anyone told you that you can’t hit for shi—”

Another punch and he really felt that one that time. The electric shocks jolted his nerves, there was no getting out out of that pain for most species, and he was no exception, but his stronger than average skin and teeth always did make his pain tolerance way higher than that of his fully human friends. The pain in that last punch only meant that he had successfully flipped the interrogation chamber in his favor and was starting to get under the Stormtrooper’s skin.

He smiled again and felt either the blood or spit drip down the side of his lip as he continued to taunt him further into blind rage.

“ _Aww..._  What’s the matter?” He huffed. “Getting frustrated?”  

Jacen took in another breath and felt like he was lifting his brows, though his face was too numb to be sure. The trooper didn’t have any emotion beneath that helmet though. He only wound back for another blow, but just as he did, the door swung open and another official in a light-gray uniform came marching inside. 

Jacen blinked, his eyes going a bit blurry for a second before focusing on the new man. He had four code cylinders strapped to his chest, a cuff labeled “power” or maybe “eprow”or “rowep”? The letters were jumping on him again, but it was probably “power” if he were betting credits on it. These were all telltale signs of a First Order junior officer, probably some sort of Lieutenant or something by the looks of him?

_ So he wasn’t the person in charge of this ship or anything, but he was higher up than this measly Stormtrooper?   _ Jacen thought.

“That’s enough.”

The trooper stood down, and wiped bits of Jacen’s magenta hued blood off on a small towel as the Lieutenant approached the table and grabbed a hold of his face with his spindly fingers, the pressure of those thin, bony limbs gripping him firmly by the jaw. One fast paced jerk and it popped back into place, causing Jacen to groan but ultimately laugh afterwards as he rocked his lower jaw from side to side in the most obnoxious way physically possible.

“Oh wow! Thanks, that was driving me nuts. You know… your Stormtrooper is doing a pretty sloppy job interrogating me. Hasn’t even asked me for my name, age, rank, favorite color… nothing...”

With another jerk, the Lieutenant released his face and took a step back.

“You can play cute all you want, boy,  but your  _ alien  _ friend already told us the whole reason why you’re here. This is not an interrogation, it is merely a disciplinary tactic to break you down before we get bored and discard you.”

_Oh please._ Dek was badly injured and most definitely unconscious by now, plus there was no way he would talk even if he wasn’t. The way the Lieutenant said alien, also hinted at Core-World/Imperial prejudices and just assumed Jacen might share some of the distrust. This guy was lying through his teeth and even someone as inexperienced as Jacen could tell that, which is why he felt the smugness in his face reach new levels as he leaned forward as far as his restraints would allow to make his reply.

“Oh... I highly doubt that...”

The Lieutenant’s mouth puckered into an angry button shape and then flattened back out.

“Believe what you want, but we have a very particular plan for dealing with New Republic spies like you. So get comfortable. You won’t be leaving this room anytime soon and nobody is coming to save you.”

“This is the worst game of good cop bad cop that I’ve ever seen. You’re like bad cop and cop who can’t throw a punch to save his life…” He stretched around to look directly at the trooper. “Am I right buddy?”

He took a growling step forward but was restrained when the Lieutenant lifted his hand.

“At ease trooper. This prisoner is not worth the extra effort. We’ll deal with him once we break orbit, then what he has to say won’t matter much anymore, now will it?”

Jacen huffed, his eyes and head drooping pitifully low as his neck gave out and fell limply towards the floor.

“Wait! _Please…_ I just have one question…” He groaned in a much softer, much more frightened tone, being sure to let the tremble in his breath show for the officer. _People like this would snap at bait this pathetic and pitiful in an instant._

Smiling, the older man turned back and stepped towards him to better hear, his voice condescending and mocking down at him from a position of power.

“And what might that be, boy?”

Jacen leaned forward and spoke softly.

“Is that your only uniform?”

“What?”

He spat suddenly, splattering the front of the Lieutenant’s gray clothes in that purplish-red color of his hybrid blood. _Hopefully..._  he thought. _The spots would stain forever unless the First Order had a really good dry-cleaning service aboard ship._

The officer’s face turned red, his nostrils flaring, but all he did was snap and another shock of pain was sent coursing through every inch of Jacen's nerves. The two seemed to delight at his screams and writhing from the pain, and Jacen wondered if they’d feel any differently knowing he was only fifteen? Probably not… It wasn’t like the act of torturing someone had age restrictions. Plus, guys like this didn’t really see age too clearly past all the sadistic glory of proper interrogation anyway. _ Or… at least that’s what that Sinjir guy always used to tell him?  _

After two or three more of those, Jacen eventually lost count at how many times they had pushed the button, but eventually they must have gotten bored because he heard the door slide shut and looked up, blinking the spots out of his eyes only to see that the room was now empty and the two interrogating officers had left him alone. 

“That’s about as much fun as Mom said it was...” 

He groaned debating whether taking a nap or wasting no time in trying to leave would be a better option. After ten seconds, he decided to go for the latter.

Now… the only question he needed to ask himself, was how was he going to escape? There’s always a way these things got done right? Well… unless they didn’t and then Jacen guessed no one ever really heard how those stories went.

_ BREEP! _

Turning his stiff neck skyward, he saw Clank pop down from the air vent above and float over to his wrists to unhook the shackles keeping him strapped to the table.

“Clank! I’m I ever glad to see you! I knew I could count on you, and look, I’m glad you managed to sneak away and all, but where were you like five minutes ago, huh!?”

_ BEEP BER WOO BREEP! _

“The timing!?” He snorted. “Fine… Fine… whatever.”

He wobbled to the ground and back up again with a light-headed groan.

_ RRR BOO BRR ROO BEEP? _

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for the rescue, but now we have to go get Dek and get the kriff out of this place. Did you see where they took him?”

_ BRR BEEP WRR REEP! _

“Great…” He sighed. “Well, I guess that’s what happens when you draw more attention to yourself. Fine then, let’s go bust him out and get back to that hangar for a ship. I’m going to stick out like a big green thumb if I don’t get my hands on a disguise though. If only I still had my bag.”

The droid expressed several loud and pessimistic thoughts about that before floating back into the vents and tossing Jacen’s bag down into his arms.

“Three steps ahead of me as usual...” He smiled. "Thanks buddy!"

Clank only protested the worth his meager supplies would actually get him in terms of a decent disguise.

“Trust me, when I get through, no one is even going to recognize us. We’ll need to go grab a uniform though, someone low class preferably.”

The droid grumbled.

“Or you can? I mean, I’m fine waiting here if you feel like incapacitating and striping someone down before shoving their body into the broom closet?”

Clank sighed in the long drawn out modem noise he got whenever he was aggravated, but Jacen only smiled and got that familiar devious twinkle in his eye.

“I knew there was a good reason I grabbed all this stuff today! Now hold still, the room is still kind of spinny, and I don’t want to mess up and get this color in any of your optic lenses.”

_ BREE BROOP! _

“Right… again… Now shut down for a few minutes and let the master work, will you?”

He muttered the binary equivalent of a huff, but Clank did as instructed, hoping that when he resumed operations his paint job wouldn’t be completely horrible. He liked all the decals and colors that Jacen gave him, so going back to the boring schemes of gray and black were not ideal for a droid like himself anymore and he honestly didn’t like dressing up in them. For Jacen though, Clank could manage until they were safely back home. 

He wasn’t his maker, but the human boy had fixed him up, given him a home, and also a purpose when no one else had. The Empire merely discarded him as junk and threw him away, but Jacen was different. He was a friend, and was told numerous times by Jacen that this was the correct term for what they were together. It took him a while to understand those terms and meanings, but now that he did, Clank would do anything for Jacen, anything to make sure his friend’s fragile form made it safely back to the Resistance, and safely out of danger. Just like how he was once rescued from the scrap heap, Clank would save Jacen from this enemy ship and bring him home, no matter what the odds.

 

* * *

 

“No wonder Uncle Kallus and Mr. Sinjir defected. We’ve been here for maybe an hour, and so far the most exciting thing that’s happened to me is my interrogation.”

Clank whirred begrudgingly.

“Of course that was a joke.” 

He walked casually through the halls, admiring just how clean, prim, and boring they really were. They lacked any of that nice lived-in look that made the Resistance or the New Republic Military bases feel somewhat homey. No scrapes, stains, dirt… no signs of life. Just monochrome linoleum floors, metal walls, and easy to navigate hallways. All structured, timed, and planned down to the last detail. Boring, stiff, and enough to make his eyes lose focus and wander away.

He had combed down and died his hair black thanks to Sabine’s old forgotten dye, and then covered his bruises and green vitiligo with his mother’s old makeup. The petty officer’s uniform was easy enough to procure thanks to Clank, and with the droid strapped to his back, it just made him look like he was toting around some fancy protected data or something. He’d admit that he always wanted to go undercover like this, but like Jacen had told himself before, the First Order was harder to remain undetected in rather than in the old days of the Empire. If he made one wrong move, he would be found out and shot down in a snap.

_ WEE BRR WOO BEE BER! _

“Great. Any hostiles inside?”

Clank buzzed and Jacen immediately snuck in through the door. Once inside, both of them saw Dek strapped in a similar way to Jacen’s own table, his blue skin still scorched from the explosion and a few new bumps and bruises from the beating they’d dished out trying to get information out of him.

“Dek!” He whispered, going for one shackle as Clank unfastened the other. “Don’t worry we got you!”

_ “J-cen?” _ He muttered before going quiet.

“He’s in bad shape. Come on Clank! We gotta get him out of here. Tap into that terminal there and see if you can’t figure out a pattern in the sentry guards walking schedule. Or better yet, see if there are any unused old passages that will clear us a clean getaway to the hangar undetected.”

With an affirmation Clank went to search as Jacen struggled to lean Dek back up against the table. He was a big guy, and heavy too. His muscles weren’t just for show and Jacen wasn’t exactly the strongest fifteen year old he knew. Twi’lek blood gave him tough skin, not superhuman strength. Getting Dek’s barely conscious body out of here, especially his big blue target of a body in this otherwise dull and colorless ship— well it was going to be hard. 

_ REE BER WOO BER BEEP! _

“No safe routes!?” Jacen spat. “That’s just great. What do we do now?”

“Ph—Ss-sca—” Dek muttered, but Jacen couldn’t make out a single word of it.

“Don’t worry Dek, we’ll escape this place somehow.” Then a flash went off in his mind and he snapped at Clank. “Hey! That’s it! Escape pods! Clank, how far is the nearest pod from here?”

A few more seconds of searching and he came back with his reply. They were close. One was just around the corner, and if they could get to it without being seen, they could wipe the traces of its departure from First Order logs, and be halfway back to Denon before anyone here even knew they were missing a pod.

“Okay that’s our best best. Get me those routes and pass-codes and let’s hightail it out of here and get Dek some medical attention.”

_ BREE BOOP! _

_ This was good…  _ Jacen thought.  _ Finally things were looking up!  _ So then... why did he still have a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach about all this? No matter, they had their plan and they had their hope. Now the rest was up to skill and luck, and between the three of them, they might just have enough to pull this off.

“Let’s go, Clank!”

 

* * *

 

“This is the smallest escape pod I’ve ever seen!” Jacen whispered angrily at his hovering droid.

_ BEE RRR BER REE WUH RER!? _

“I’m not blaming you, it’s just— this ship is gargantuan! Why does it look like they can only get one person crammed in this stupid pod!?”

Clank did the binary equivalent of a shrug before reminding Jacen that the next patrol was about to come by in the next two minutes and that he should hurry to avoid detection.

“I hear you buddy, I hear you. Go in and keep Dek’s head supported, I’ll push in his feet. Then chart the course we need back home and I’ll wipe the data out here. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but I doubt any of us will be too worried so long as we get out of here in one piece.”

Clank agreed and held out all three of his working brachial struts to make sure the Nautolan was guided safely down into the pod. It was like turning a large piece of furniture through a small doorway.  _ Why did his shoulders need to be so broad!? Was it really necessary for Dek to be this huge? He knew Dek was a foot soldier and also that he unloaded a lot of engine equipment in the hangars, but still… yeesh! _

“There!” Jacen breathed. “Got him!”

Clank booped and went immediately to the computer to start charting their route back to Denon. Meanwhile, Jacen typed the series of reboot codes into the terminal that would completely wipe the data from First Order Logs and break all tracking connection to the pod. His eyes made it hard for him to read, but he could still type, it was all finger memory by now to him anyway.

“Just about… Got it!”

Clank buzzed.

“Really?” He grinned. “I thought it was one of my faster ones? Oh well. Now scoot over, I’m crawling in.”

He had a foot and part of a leg in the pod when he heard the distant voices coming from down the hall.  _ Kriff!  _  He had a split second to figure out what he was about to do. He could leap into the pod, slam the eject button, and hope that whoever was coming didn’t hear or see the thing leaving and alert every TIE in the hangar that there was going to be free target practice floating outside their Light-Cruiser. Or… he could shut the doors now, back away, and lead the approaching soldiers in the other direction, buying Dek more time, and hopefully giving the pod enough room to escape undetected. Just like the interrogation, it would be more painful, but it would at least work in the escape pod’s favor.

If he was remembering right, there was an internal level fire alarm just down the hall the way they’d come. If he set that off, it could be the perfect distraction for both the pod and the cruiser. Heck, he might even be able to sneak to the hangar in all the confusion while they searched this level for the fire. It was perfect! 

“Clank... I’m counting on you. Get Dek back to the base. I’ll find another way out and buy you some cover time. Tell Mom I—” He huffed. “Nevermind, there’s no time. Just go!”

The droid sounded alarmed as he spun around to face the hole only to see Jacen stepping back out of it.

“I’ll be right behind you.” 

He smiled, hoping internally that he wasn’t lying before slamming the wall down on the escape pod and punching on the terminal to shoot it out into space.

“Be safe.”

He watched it for only a second, smiling as he pivoted on his heel and slid down the wall towards the fire switch.

“Now let’s hope this works.”

He pressed the button and nothing happened, the voices of the sentries getting close and closer.

“Come on! Come on! Not now! Work!”

He pressed it repeatedly, even holding it down, before squinting his eyes to the lever to try and make out what it said. Giving up on that with a roll of his eyes, he pulled the knife from his bag, popped open the alarm panel to see the nest of wires inside . If there was one thing Chopper taught him about while growing up on the  _ Ghost, _ it was how to re-strip wiring. Thanks to his enthusiasm back then, Jacen also learned that cutting a live wire would cause it to overheat and catch the whole panel on fire, and since this was such a big ship, he could practically slice half of them and hit a hot one that would do just that.

He cut it quickly, hoping he wouldn’t electrocute himself in the process and just as he did, the panel super-heated and a small burst of flames sprang out from the box. By this point the two troopers had come around the corner and immediately saw Jacen and the flames. Now it was time for his improvised acting. He screamed and jumped back, deepening his voice to try and sound more official as the two troopers ran for him.

“What’s happened?” one asked.

“What does it look like!?” Jacen spat back venomously. “The emergency button is on fire! Don’t just stand there! Do something!”

“Uh…” 

They walked into one another before splitting up to go in different directions, the alarms sounded a few seconds later.

“Wow… I can’t believe that actually worked!?” 

Jacen blinked and wasted no time in running back towards the hangar bay. Or—at least where he thought the hangar bay was. Honestly he wasn’t completely sure where he was going.  _ It couldn’t be that hard to find, could it? _ He’d studied starship maps his whole life, so he could find the most likely location for a hangar based off of that logic he supposed. On paper it was so easy… but on foot… it was a lot harder. 

_ It didn’t matter. This sort of thing was in his blood! _

That was what he kept telling himself anyway, and he made a blind turn down the adjacent hallway hoping his gut instincts were leading him in the right direction. It was just a matter of time before his natural sense of direction kicked in and he was home free!

 

* * *

 

“Sir!”

It took him every ounce of control in his body not to jump at the Stormtrooper’s sudden voice. 

_ He knew he shouldn’t have taken that last left turn! _

Jacen cleared his throat to sound deep again and stood tall, his arms held uniformly behind his back and his chin raised high in snooty defiance.

“Yes trooper?” He spoke casually. “Um… Report!”

“The Captain wants all officers at their stations immediately! You are needed at your terminal.”

“Of course! I was just on my way there now.” 

_ Well this was a big steaming pile of poodoo he’d just stepped in.  _ Apparently the guy he stole this uniform from wasn’t as low-ranked as he thought. He didn’t know where the guy worked, and if he took a step in the wrong direction this Stormtrooper would be on him like slime on a Hutt.

“With all the chaos, the Captain sent us to find all of you and escort you personally back to your stations.”

“Good then.” Jacen nodded, trying his best not to sound relieved. “Well, get on with it, let’s go! We can’t waste anymore time!”

“Right sir!”

A few minutes later the doors slid open to reveal the absolute worst sight Jacen’s eyes could have met with. The command bridge of the Light-Cruiser. The Stormtrooper turned and walked away as Jacen stepped slowly inside and over to the only empty terminal he could see before pretending to click away on it.

_ Thank the Force the Captain wasn’t paying him any mind.  _ Judging by her tone and volume, she had much more important things on her mind.

“I want those prisoners found immediately!” She shouted. “They’re the ones who set that fire on the lower levels, and if they are able to make it off this ship then all the hard work we’ve put in to remain inconspicuous will be entirely worthless. Now find them!

“Right away ma’am!”

She turned and yelled now across the room.

“Someone get our security cams back online! I want every shred of detail you can gather on the last known whereabouts of these marauders, and I want it yesterday! Am I clear?”

The other officers in the same clothing as Jacen’s started typing fervently on their terminals, and Jacen mimicked them, unsure of what to do, and even less sure about how to go about reading the screen.  Luckily, the layout of the First Order screens were similar to the ones he’d trained on in those old Empire simulators, but he still had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. 

She was different than what he thought she’d be. Typically when he thought big bad ship captains, he saw old pale-skinned guys with huge mustaches, or the blue skinned Chiss in the specific stories he’d learned about the Grand Admiral Thrawn of his mother's Empire days. But she… well… she was young? With dark skin and hair, and a powerful presence to her authority. There was something more to this captain that Jacen wasn’t seeing, but he could feel it somehow, just like how he could feel her eyes on the back of his head as he continued clicking blindly on the terminal.

He was starting to feel the eerie chill tiptoeing up his spine as the Captain’s boots stepped in rhythmic motions up and down the platform, her dark eyes watching them all like a bird of prey on the prowl. 

_At this rate he would be found out for sure!_ _What he wouldn’t give for Clank to be here right about now..._

“You there!” She hollered suddenly, and Jacen felt his skin go pale, knowing with full certainty that her voice was directed at his back. “What are you doing in those log files? I said I wanted cam records! Cam records!”

“Uh……” he started, turning to face her and reaching back behind him into his bag for his knife, unsure what exactly he would even do with it once he got it, but hoping that knowledge might come to him in the next three seconds.

“Ma’am!” Another petty officer shouted from the other half of the walkway. “We’re receiving an urgent call from the Grand Admiral! Shall I patch her through?”

The Captain tilted her head back, suppressing a light groan, but forgetting about Jacen’s existence for a split second as she turned to give her reply.

“Just what I need…” She sighed and composed herself. “Alright. Put her through.”

In an instant, a dark skinned woman with a silver streak of hair and white uniform appeared on the massive holo-projector. Jacen had never seen one so large before, and he could have sworn he recognized the woman who appeared on it.

“Grand Admiral Sloane,” she greeted.

_ Grand Admiral Sloane?  _ Jacen thought to himself.  _ Why did that name sound so familiar? And why a Grand Admiral? _ The First Order didn’t have “Grand” Admirals, they merely had Admirals. Judging by her age and medals she was definitely a civil war veteran, and an Imperial one at that.  _ Who was this woman? _

“Captain Sloane,” the Grand Admiral replied stern-faced. “We recently received your ship’s status alert for a minor fire breach to your interrogation levels. Are you having difficulties near Lannik?”

“Not at all ma’am!” The captain said, her voice nervous and hesitant. “We successfully gathered the shipment and are in route with them now. The only delay was caused by the unannounced presence of two New Republic spies, but—”

“Spies?” Rae Sloane inquired. “Might I remind you of the secrecy your expedition requires?”

“It was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

She frowned as she looked to her datapad and then back to the captain. 

“Then what’s this I see on your ship schematics? It looks like you’ve lost an escape pod?”

“Impossible!” The younger Sloane said, stepping over to Jacen’s terminal and pointing to one of the files on his screen. “Open the logs!”

Jacen swallowed. He might not be able to read all the words, but since he was on the right screen for this, he knew the sequence to get his next action done. Without thinking, he swiftly turned and pushed the three button sequence he needed in order to pull up the ship’s diagnostics page, but simultaneously wipe the history of the vessel from the ship’s connection, just like he’d done back at the terminal. Now, not only would Dek and Clank’s pod be missing, but the rest of the escape hatches all throughout the ship would be labeled as gray inactive dots on the screen as well.

“What did you just do!?” The Captain shouted, getting a good look now at his face and pulling out her blaster. “Wait... Who are you?”

The hologram’s voice grew cold as well, seeing the new activity highlighted on her datapad.

“What just happened there, Ardyn?”

“It’s the spy!” A trooper shouted.

“Hands in the air, you!” Another growled.

“Welp, looks like my cover’s blown?” Jacen sighed. There was only one way off of this ship in one piece now, but it seemed he wasn't going to be going out alone. As more troopers on the bridge started for him, he had one shot at this working, and even then he wasn’t sure if it actually would.

_ It was now or never, and he had to try something... _

He shot his arm forward, wrapping the shorter woman up in his hold before her blaster let off a stray shot into one of the far terminals across the bridge. A split second later, Jacen squeezed and she dropped her weapon in pain, completely susceptible to his grapple, freezing another second later when she noticed the primitive-looking knife pointed directly towards her neck.

He held firm on her as her arms gripped the sleeve of his stolen Imperial uniform and glared down at the knife with eyes equally as sharp.

“Who are you?” Grand Admiral Sloane demanded, her voice still calm, but with an even more chilling edge to it than before.

“Never mind that!” Jacen smirked. “I was just leaving. I’ll be taking my new friend here back down to Lannik if you don’t mind. No one has to get hurt today.”

Sloane paused a moment, her lips pursed, but eyes remaining calm as she looked Jacen over with a different aura of focus about her face. 

“All troopers… hold your fire,” she ordered to the bridge in an eerily calm voice.

“Aunt Sloane!” Ardyn grumbled. “Forget about me! Just finish this trash!”

Jacen jabbed the knife closer, pinching a bit of her skin. He wasn’t sure if she could tell his hands were shaking, but he was trying his hardest not to stab some strange woman while gambling for his own life— not if he could help it. 

So this Captain Sloane was the niece of the Grand Admiral. More than that, the older woman seemed to actually value her relative’s life, which was good for Jacen’s odds of survival. Honestly, with Imperials the sentiment could have gone either way, but taking the niece of the grand admiral hostage was probably his best bet at getting off this light-cruiser alive, and now everyone else on board knew that too.

The woman in his arms hissed as Jacen saw a tiny trickle of blood stain the collar of her gray shirt. He had pressed a little too hard, but he could sense the tension and fragile hesitation in everyone with a blaster on him who would not hesitate to shoot through their captain just to kill him.

“Touch me and she’ll be dead before I hit the floor!” He threatened. “I’ll be taking her out in my ship, then down to Lannik. I’ll ditch her when I hit ground and be out of your hair. I can guarantee that no harm will come to the captain.“

“How do I know we can trust you?” the older Sloane asked thoughtfully. If he didn’t know any better, there was a slight amusement in her voice.

Jacen shrugged one arm because he was too scared to move his other a single inch without cutting the Captain’s neck.

“Hey!? I didn’t ask to get captured today, and I’m not with the New Republic! Your people just assumed that and took me and my buddy captive. Look… I just want to go home. Be lucky I don’t bring this whole spice/torture thing up with the Senate! We know how much you’re trying to lay low with them, and if they learn you’ve been killing off innocent travelers in this sector, they’ll be on you in a heartbeat!”

He grinned as the pressure in the room seemed to drain.  _ Well… he wasn’t technically with the New Republic, his mother was, and he was just along for the ride.   _Hopefully no one questioned him about it and bought his story. Even more, he hoped no one could see the sweat dripping down his face, probably causing streaks in his makeup. 

Both of the Sloanes merely frowned.

"Hey, the way I see it lady," Jacen continued. “I’m about to get shot down anyway. Either we both die right here and now, or you can chase after me later and let your precious niece in training live to see another day. The First Order can’t really refuse to lose such promising captain material, can it? I hear your numbers are still pretty low these days.”

He glared his most serious of glares at the hologram of Rae Sloane, his eyes locked on hers as they held their stalemate stare for a few very long moments.

Her eyes narrowed.

His brows lowered.

The entire hull was silent and Jacen could hear his own heartbeat pounding through his ears, no doubt the Captain in his hold could feel it pressed up against her back.

“Let them leave.”

Everyone on the bridge, Jacen and Ardyn included, loosened their stance and took in a breath.

“What?!”

“But, Grand Admiral, the protocol…” 

“I _said_ let them leave…” She repeated more sternly. “Now!”

The door swished open and Jacen took a step back, dragging the small captain along with him.

_ I can't believe this is happening! _   Jacen thought to himself.

“I can’t believe this is happening!?” The Captain snarled aloud in disbelief.

“Grand Admiral.” He nodded. “Crew. We’ll just be on our way then. Anyone follows us and she get’s it, got it?”

“Oh, I will see you again, boy…” Rae Sloane glared. “Make no mistake about that. You think yourself safe, but you are far, far from it now.” 

They exchanged a final stare-down, before Jacen was out of the doorway and into the hall. It was a strange feeling all the way to the ships, and even stranger when they got aboard and the other troopers let him commandeer a shuttle and even tie their captain to the co-pilot’s chair.

“I’m going to level with you, Captain…" Jacen chuckled, his voice higher and more befitting his own age now that all his adrenaline was mixing into shock. "I honestly have no idea how that just happened.”

“Just you wait you marauder scum! It doesn't matter if you aren't a spy or if you are some kind of pirate or just a common smuggler! Once we’re off ship, my men with blast this shuttle to atoms! They would not dare let you go after learning so much about our plans!”

“Lady, I am literally making this up as I go, and even I know that your aunt wants you kept alive. They aren't going to shoot us down.”

She snarled and struggled in her seat, even after their ship left the light-cruiser and headed towards the planet's surface.

Jacen was still in partial shock that he wasn’t dead, but if he was able to get on the ground, he could probably break free and lay low long enough for the First Order to get bored, or more realistically, long enough for his mother and the New Republic to come and save him. With Dek and Clank heading back to them now, it was only a matter of time before this misadventure would be over and Jacen would have a wild survivor’s story of his own to rival even the best ones in the entire New Republic Army.

“Alright Captain… let’s see what happens to us next.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on: December 21, 2018

#  **Chapter Five:**  

 

“I can’t believe that worked! I can’t believe that worked!” Jacen laughed to himself as he piloted the shuttle into the orbit of Lannik’s gravity.

“You’ve been saying that over and over for the last five minutes!” Ardynn groaned, rolling her eyes as she narrowed them into slits just in time to look at her capture’s face. “Can’t you at least pretend to be professional? What are you fiv—” She paused and blinked away her hate as a new feeling of shock overwhelmed her senses. “Wait a minute. Are... are you crying?”

Jacen’s laughter never ceased, but there were in fact tears streaking down his face. He chuckled a bit more and wiped them away before narrowing his brows back towards the First Order captain he had strapped to his co-pilot’s seat.

“Yeah, I guess I am? What of it?”

It took her two tries to find her words and when she did they did not come out kindly.

“Why in star’s name are you crying!?”

“That was stressful alright! I thought I was going to die back there! I’ve got a lot of emotions going on right now. Sorry if I’m not as stoic as you are!”

“You just held me hostage at knife-point!” She spat in bewilderment. “You don't get to cry right now! What kind of man are you? Is this your first mission with actual conflict or—Wait...” She blinked. “Wait, wait, wait… how old are you?”

“Fifteen...” he sniffed. “Not that your stupid interrogation squad back there bothered to ask. And to answer your question, this is my first time getting captured and tortured on a mission where me and my friends almost died more times than I can count! _So-rry!”_

“You're only fifteen!?” She repeated, brows lifted is surprise before her eyes rolled back into her head. “Fifteen and you infiltrated a military vessel, kidnapped a Captain of the First Order, bartered with an Admiral, escaped with a ship and your life intact, and you’re telling me this is the first real mission you’ve ever gone out on! Are you serious!?”

He nodded with a scowling expression that only made Ardyn believe without a doubt that this boy was in fact a young teenager.

She huffed and shook her head, still in slight disbelief at what was happening around her.

“I’ll admit, your face makes you look a bit older than you are, but even still... you’re too old to be sitting here crying, not after what you’ve done here today. So man up!”

He made a face and scoffed, looking around the ship with rapidly flicking teal-colored eyes.

“My gosh, lady! Who tells someone they aren't allowed to cry just because their a certain age or gender? News flash, Captain Sociopath, I don’t know what it’s like in the First Order, but out in the real world people cry sometimes! People of all ages, all races, all genders, and for all different kinds of reasons. It’s not something exclusive.”

“I…” She started but shut her mouth with a growl as she looked out the dash-port window with a new scowl. “I’m not having this conversation. How humiliating… captured by a fifteen year old crybaby who has the nerve to call me a sociopath!?” She paused.  “Wait a minute, what's happened to your face? Is… is that makeup? Are you wearing makeup?”

“What, are fifteen year old boys not allowed to wear makeup in the First Order either?” He muttered, shooting her a snooty sideways glance. “Look, I had to blend in somehow alright? I’m not exactly the integrating type.”

She waited until he put his finger-quotes back on the controls to let her head fall.

“Who even are you, kid?”

“Name’s Jacen,” he replied quickly, checking all of his monitoring and targeting computers to make sure nothing had followed them down as he landed shuttle on the ground below, quite impressively Ardyn would never admit aloud. He came back with his final response just as he killed the engines and the shuttle shut down. “Oh… and don’t call me kid! It’s really annoying.”

Her lips tightened against the retort that wanted to come out, but Ardyn remembered that she was the adult here and remained strong and mature.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“Lay low?” He shrugged, a cocky side grin forming as he stood from the seat and started down the walkway of the shuttle. “Maybe take a nap and try to get that burned flesh smell out of my hair… you know, typical marauder-renegade things?  Don’t worry, I’m sure your aunt will send somebody down to get you in no time!”

“That’s it!? You’re just going to leave me here!?”

“Oh yeah, like I’m going to tote around the lady trying to get me killed. No thanks.”

“This is a First Order shuttle and we are on the planet Lannik! It’s practically gift wrapped itself as a hotspot for pirates and thugs to come snooping around!”

“Just call those pirates you were trading with back here, and—”

“That isn’t how this works!”

“Well I’ve never captured anyone before, but I’m pretty sure having them tag along isn’t how these things work either. Look, it’d be so easy for me to just kill you and let there be one less of you people to cause trouble out in the galaxy, but that isn’t how I do things—" He frowned and looked off to the side. "Not if I can help it.”

“Well aren’t you just a regular humanitarian?”

He lifted his brow, choosing to ignore her sass for the time being because with any luck, Jacen thought he would never see this woman again.

“My mom always used to tell me that people were basically decent, and something’s telling me, even you First Order guys might have a few decent people in there somewhere? Deep… _deep..._ down?” He shook his head. “So, yeah… sorry but that’s where my help stops wherever you’re concerned. From here on out, you’re on your own.”

“Jacen!”

“Right, and I’d say sorry for kidnapping you at knife-point and stuff too, but your people literally beat me up and tried to kill me so—” He saluted to her with two fingers and pressed for the hatch door. “It’s not been all that fun. Catch you on the flipside of the war, Captain.”

“Kid! Jacen!” Ardyn called again. “Hey! You get back here and untie me this instant!”

But he was already gone.

“Great… Now what am I supposed to do?” she huffed. “Aunt Rae is going to kill me for this…”

It was then she noticed the single rank plaque the kid had ditched from his stolen uniform. It was just sharp enough that she might be able to cut herself loose! Smiling, Ardyn slipped off her boot and reached for the metal with her toes, grinning in satisfaction when she had it in her grasp. Now the only question… how to get it into her hand?

“This might be harder than I thought...”

 

* * *

 

 

## On the Planet, Denon:

##  _(A few hours later)_

 

“General! We have a First Order escape pod breaking orbit. They’re transmitting New Republic safe codes, so we think it’s one of ours.”

Hera got a look on her face that was the perfect blend of worried, skeptical, and angry when she considered what that might mean.

_If this was Jacen, so help her, she was going to bolt his boots to the floor!_

"Send in escorts and land it in docking bay two, be careful, but be prepared for anything. It could be one of our spies needing medical attention. I’m heading down there now."

"Ooh! Can I come too?"

“Rol’juh... this isn’t exactly the best place for you right now.”

“Oh please, it’s fine!” She waved. “Besides, I’m not through asking questions yet.”

“Still?” Hera suppressed a tone. She’d been firing away baby questions non-stop since Jacen and Dek left _hours_ ago.

“Yeah, like what do I do if my baby needs to breath water like Dek? Oh! Or what if it’s sleeping on their lek wrong and they end up flat-looking when they get older? Oh stars help me… how many lek do you think my baby will have!? Two? Fourteen? Somewhere in between!?” She gasped. “Nautolans lay eggs, don’t they!? Oh my gosh, what if my baby is an egg!?”

“Calm down!” Hera soothed. “Alright, alright! You can come with me! If anything, just try to ease your thoughts away from all the what-ifs for a few minutes! Trust me, it’ll do you a world of good.”

“Al-alright,” she nodded, breathing in and out. “Okay, you’re right.”

“Besides, I think you’d be able to tell if you were carrying around an egg in your womb. After this mess is cleared up, how about you and I head over to the medbay and get you a proper ultrasound?”

“Dek and I were going to wait and be surprised…”

“I’ll do all the looking for you...” she smirked. “And I promise, I‘ll only tell you whether or not it’s an egg, deal?”

“Oh… Okay… deal…”

They approached Hangar Two and made their way to the pod as a familiar ID-10 Seeker Droid in dark paint flew over to her position.

“Clank?” Hera called, catching the disk-shaped droid in mid air before it could reach her. “I knew it… I knew it all along. That boy is so grounded when I get over there! He’s going to get—”

But, she stopped then when the crowd parted and she saw the empty pod. Jacen was nowhere to be seen and they had Dek on a stretcher already. His blue skin was burned, bruised, and bloody, his typical thunderous laughter silenced to a few quiet groans as he blinked wearily and tried to figure out where he was.

“Dek!” Rol’juh screamed, rushing over to his side as quickly as her bulging stomach would allow. “Dek!” She repeated, tears forming the more she said his name. “Oh, Dek!”

 _“Shhh…”_ he whispered hoarsely, his lips chapped and the gills near his temples in desperate need of water. He tried to reach up and caress his wife’s face, but his arm only made it about a foot off the table before he had to lay it back down.

“What happened!?” Rol’juh cried, her eyes burning orange with new anger now as she gripped the hand that had tried to move towards her. “Who did this to you? You’ll be okay. Are you going to be okay?”

Hera only stood and stared as her attention broke off to that single empty pod, her hands falling to her sides as her hold on her son’s droid broke and Clank floated up to meet her at eye-level once more.

“Jacen…” she muttered in a soft breath. “C-Clank, where is Jacen?”

_BREE! BER! BAH! BER! WER!_

She shook her head, unable to process the horrible binary words the droid had just revealed about her child. He sacrificed himself so they could get away safely. Her son… her baby was most likely in the hands of the First Order right now being interrogated, or tortured, or— she stopped. Hera couldn’t even bear to finish the thought.

“Get this man to the med bay, now!” Her voice rose, surprising everyone, even herself by the sheer ferocity in her tone.

“Clank! Message Chopper! Tell him I want the _Ghost_ up and running immediately!”

“General, what are you going to do?”

She shot back to Rol’juh and Dek and shook her head.

“Forgive me for putting you in harms way…” She turned to an officer and called. “Alert Lieutenant Ematt that I’m taking extended leave, effective immediately... and have Senior Officer Statura take over my flight classes.”

“Hera!” Rol’juh grabbed her arm and flinched back as the other Twi’lek woman spun around to face her. A single look was all it took for Rol’juh to release her grip, but regardless she slipped into what was left of her concerned statement anyway. “It could be dangerous,” she said softly. “You can’t go in alone, blasters blazing.”

“I won’t be alone,” she replied, her voice gentle but with a very sharp edge to it. “And trust me, the only ones in danger here will be the First Order if I find out they’ve done a single thing to my son.” More calmly she scooped up each of Rol’juh’s hands and held them tightly at chest-level before letting her go. “Don’t worry about me, I’ve been doing this sort of thing for a long time. Now, go...be with your husband. See to his recovery and alert me the very moment you get any information about Lannik. I’ll have Clank fill in most of the gaps along the way.”

Rol’juh nodded, but her frown and her long yellow lekku gave away her true worry.

“Is it really wise for you to be leading this attack, General Syndulla?”

Hera softened and shook her head.

“Maybe not, but I’ll be damned if I don’t still try. Now go. I’ll see you when I return.”

And with that, she and the hovering droid turned and made their way back to the main hangar.The _Ghost_ and two X-Wings were in the air and out of orbit before Dek was even put into a bacta suit. All the Twi’lek mother-to-be could do now was sit and wait, hoping that all those she cared about would come back to her safely by day’s end, the general and her trouble-making boy included on the list right beneath her poor husband.

 

* * *

 

 

## Aboard an Executor-Class Star Dreadnought, _the Eclipse:_

 

Rae Sloane stood alone on the Bridge of her ship, her eyes focused off into the black nothingness of stars that awaited the viewport. This area of the Unknown Regions was hard to locate without proper maps and clearances, and because of that it’s solitude was that of undisturbed tranquility.

A few years ago, she saw this as the perfect place to rebuild the Empire— _nay—_  the First Order… and as the dreadnought changed course, their new base came into view. Rae looked over to the dying world, its snowy peaks and ice-coated lands completely cased over in the blackened remains of hardened lava rock and destruction. It didn’t much matter… much like a dark ghost from her past, Denetrius Vidian, the planet was being encased entirely in a new foundation and replacement enhancement parts. The world was no more a simple planet, long dead from the effects the Empire had on its surface in the pursuit of exports, but now it may as well have been a third Death Star under construction.

_A third Death Star…_

Not exactly how she thought to be spending their hard earned resources, but the base would be large enough to house everyone in the First Order, and it in itself would one day become a weapon. But that was far far in the future… for now, mining and ecology restoration teams were busy trying to make the planet inhabitable once more and lay the groundwork for what was sure to be the beacon of power within the First Order’s reign.

Rae Sloane waited until the dreadnought moved out of sight of the massive construction zone before at last, she blinked and took a sharp intake of breath.

“Alert me at once if there are any further issues with any of our away teams. I’ll be in my quarters.”

“Yes ma’am!”

No one on the bridge dared say anymore, though the looks in each set of eyes portrayed curiosity as to just how the great Grand Admiral Sloane would deal with the kidnapping of a First Order captain, and her own niece at that. All of them knew better than to speak up about it though, and Rae walked a silent path back to her room, grateful for their compliance and fear.

“Good afternoon, ma’am.”

She lifted her eyes to see the pale faced teenager with his fiery red hair and an armload of data cards tucked uniformly in the crook of his elbow.

“Good afternoon, Armitage,” she nodded. “Off to your studies are you?”

“I am ma’am.” He frowned, the concern only making his skin look lighter and those green eyes of his tremble like wind-strewn grass. “You appear distressed, ma’am. Is everything alright?”

“I’m fine, Armitage. Nothing to concern yourself about. You only need focus on your studies. The First Order will look to you one day as a great leader, and a great leader—” she trailed off so he could finish the statement himself.

Cracking a small smile, he shuffled his stance and stood tall, his chin held proudly in the air and his spine straight as a soldiers.

“A great leader must remain disciplined!”

“That’s my boy. Now off with you. Don’t let me down.”

He bowed slightly and hurried off with his books and data pads without another word. He was a good boy... already fourteen years old if Rae wasn’t mistaken. No longer that scared little boy always being picked on by his father, but now more and more he was growing into the means of a respectable leader, the sort the Empire so desperately needed. Hux excelled at his studies, and his continuation of Brendol’s soldier program was still off to a good start, now if only Rae could break him of the few rough edges that remained, Armitage would become a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

If only the same could be said of her niece.

Ardyn was smart, she was strong-willed, resourceful, and tough-skinned… a few traits Armitage sometimes lacked. But, still… Ardyn was much older, much less interested in succeeding the First Order to power than she was just trying to impress her only aunt. It wasn’t as if she were a lost cause, taken in only for the sake of Rae’s guilty conscious. No… she never really much cared about family to begin with. It was what made it so easy for her to leave Ganthel behind.

However, Ardyn was a good captain with much in terms of growing potential. What she lacked in experience and drive, she more than made up for in mission prowess and tales of success and determination. In fact, her short military career would have been considered the highest of record status just for how quickly she'd risen through the ranks. 

_So all of that said, how in the name of the Emperor did she manage to let herself get taken captive by some random nobody!?_

Rae had run his face through every data-scan she had, but nothing and no one seemingly anywhere knew anything about that boy on the bridge. There was something about him though, something that itched her skin. More than just his gall for making the First Order look like a fool… no… he had to rub salt in the wound by proceeding to bark orders at all of them like some kind of mouthy crisis negotiator!

That’s what really made her mad. The boy was mouthy… just like her old side project all those years ago… Kanan Jarrus. But, no… that had nothing to do with anything relevant to their situation now. Kanan Jarrus was killed back on Lothal by Imperial forces nearly fifteen, maybe sixteen years ago, his crew disbanded, and his only disciple was said to have been lost along with the former Chiss Grand Admiral, Thrawn, around that same time. No… in her old age she might be starting to grow sentimental over such small things like the past, but Sloane knew better than to let them cloud her mind with useless thoughts and nostalgic _what ifs._

She pressed for her personal holocom and waited as the line connected far across the stars and space. It took a bit longer than the average call… being out in the unknown regions will do that to a broadcast signal, but nevertheless, her system hummed to life with the still blue-toned image of a familiar face from her past, and Rae greeted him accordingly.

“It’s been a long time. You’re looking well.”

“I’ll say...” the man gruffed, his handsomely boyish face now that of a more rugged but equally easy on the eyes adult. “I gotta say, I’m a little surprised you’re still alive? What are you pushing these days? Fifties? Sixties?”

Rae glared into the projection.

“And here I am, about to offer you a job, Mercurial. Perhaps I was mistaken to summon you?”

“Yeah? Well, I’m still getting over the last job you “summoned” me for!” He growled acidly. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to work up enough credits to get off Jakku!? They had me dancing like a regular slave girl at the shiftiest places for eight months straight!”

“For what it’s worth, I would have taken the abject humiliation to the torturous conditions in which I suffered while trapped on Jakku.”

“Both my arms were broken for three of those months! Getting thrown from your own ship will do that to a person you know!?”

“I take it you work mostly alone these days then?”

“Depends. I’ve been a part of some actual theater groups in the last decade or so. Maybe I don’t even do the life of a roguish bounty hunter anymore, eh? Maybe I’m doing just fine on my own without you or your empty promises to hold me back?”

“If that were true—” Rae shot him a very knowing smirk. “Then why answer my call?”

Swift paused, rubbed his face in his hands, and let out one deep sigh.

“I’m not as dumb as I used to be, Sloane!” He warned. “And I’m not so desperate to take just any job you’ve got for me. In fact, most of the ones you had me doing are entirely above my pay-grade these days.”

“What about a simple search and rescue op?”

“Depends on who’s needing the rescue, and where I’m doing the searching.”

“It will be out near Lannik. One of our captains were taken hostage and sent down to the planet with her assailant. This captain’s vessel has already been ordered back to port due to its timely cargo aboard, but I know for a fact that you are in that area as we speak, and I’d wager that business in the entertainment injury hasn’t been going very well for you these last few months.”

“So says the literal ghost of the Empire!” He spat back. “Nobody even knows where you are, and I can’t get a clear reading from our channel. Encrypted?”

She nodded and simultaneously lifted her brow.

“Nice. Nice. Well, I’m not sure how you still have tabs on me, but I’m willing to chalk it up to tour dates. Never pegged you for the type to keep up with theatre? Anyway, I’ll let that one slide once we start talking prices.”

“So you’ll take the job then?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. I’m willing to listen to what you have to offer, and I'm not just exaggerating when I say I want to hear all of the details. Then, and only then will I decide if this little side quest is worth my time.”

“Know that I wouldn’t be coming to just anybody for this mission, Swift. Whether you accept or not, what details I do decide to allow you are of the utmost secrecy.”

“Fine, fine… doesn’t matter to me, but you know how the old saying goes… loose lips sink ships, but tight lips cost extra.”

Rae groaned and rubbed her graying temples.

“Fine!”

“Alright then, Sloane... I'm all ears!” The man smiled. “Tell me about your little job and just how my expert services will be required.”


End file.
